Naruto: The Return of Darkness
by G3rMan
Summary: FemKaka The sacrifice Naruto's parents made was not in vain. The Sarutobi clan raised him to be a strong shinobi. Not all is well in the world, however, and a new power threatens to overtake even Akatsuki in its evil. To combat it, Naruto will need more than his chakra, his heritage, his burden; he will need love. Enter the village's most powerful jounin, Kakashi Hatake
1. Synopsis

Naruto: The Return of Darkness

By: G3rMan

Synopsis and Story Overview

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

_Synopsis:_

The sacrifice Naruto's parents made was not in vain, their child taken into the loving care of the Sarutobi clan. Not all is well in the world, however, and a new power threatens to overtake even Akatsuki in its evil. To combat it, Naruto will need more than his chakra, his heritage, his burden; he will need love.

Enter the village's most powerful jounin, Kakashi Hatake. With the loss of her team-mates in the war, her personality has changed to being a caring individual for those around her. Even she is not without emotional baggage, however, and Kakashi has forced her heart into a corner to prevent herself (and others) from getting hurt again.

What will happen if these walls threaten to crumble as one person slowly, but surely breaks down each and every one to reveal her true feelings. Will Kakashi accept and embrace this freedom that was cruelly robbed from her during the war? Or will she retreat farther, reminding herself that she is nothing but trash that does not deserve the affection of another.

These two individuals hold the keys to the others heart in the most mismatched pairing the world might ever see. Will they be able to save each other from themselves, or will the world plunge into darkness once again?

_Additional Information:_

This is an Adventure/Romance between Naruto and a female Kakashi. The storyline follows arc format and while it does share some arcs from the manga, it has its own unique antagonists presented in the second arc.

There are some other pieces of information that are important to keep in mind, as the time line is also somewhat different.

During Part I, Naruto is 15 and Kakashi is 25. Naruto is the only child to be affected by this age change, meaning that the Kyuubi attack and his birth were earlier than in the manga. This also means he did not grow up with the others and does not know them very well or at all.

As said earlier, the story will follow an arc format that is similar to the manga. Though an arc may have the same name, the events may well be very different for Naruto and those involved. This is done to make it comfortable for both the reader and myself to know where we are in the original time line as it helps to keep pace.

There are also new arcs that take the place of older ones to serve the story's new antagonists which will debut in part II. Akatsuki will still exist, but without giving anything away, they are not by any means friends with this other force.

It goes without saying but because of Naruto's different upbringing, he will act differently. The same goes with Kakashi being a girl, there are just some things she likes or doesn't like that as a boy she would feel differently about. Overall, I want to keep her with the same personality because Kakashi is a great character that deserves justice. One major thing is that, in certain situations, she will get more emotional.

To reiterate, this is a romance between a younger Naruto and an older female Kakashi. If you do not like the idea of this or gender bender in general, do not read.

_Author Notes:_

Hey guys, welcome to my little side project that I have been playing around with this holiday. If this receives enough interest I will put more effort into completing the first chapter. For now though, this will be an information page for the story so that I can do away with long information in the author notes as well as give everyone a better idea of the story as soon as they click to read.

Keep in mind that my other stories will still take precedence. I am not willing to give up my current stories just to mess around with this idea, because I love all of my stories and I really do want to see them finished eventually. This is a side project until it garners enough interest.

I decided that I wanted to try something different and give myself a challenging side project; there was also some reader interest when I said I had planned a female Kakashi story so I realized that I wasn't the only one to think about it. If you guys are still interested in a female Kakashi and a bit of something new then maybe we can work together and see this story become something other than an information page.

What you can do is leave a review and tell me what you think about it! I like to hear from you guys on what you think about stories and ideas. Also, go to my profile and use the poll at the top of the page so that I can get some real numbers on how many people like the idea of a female Kakashi.

Until next time, Happy New Years!


	2. Birth of a Hero

Naruto: The Return of Darkness

Chapter 1

Birth of a Hero

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"Speaking"

"_Whisper"_

_'Thinking'_

_Writing/Text_

"**Jutsu**"

"**Tailed Beast/Demonic speak"**

Welcome to the first real chapter of Naruto: The Return of Darkness. Here we will see the introduction of all major characters and the setting for Part I. A healthy reminder that this will be a slow romantic buildup so don't expect much romance until Part II. I want this to be as believable as possible since I have learned from my mistakes in Uzumaki Clan's Rebirth (I was disappointed with early romantic buildup).

One last thing, on my profile I have added two links to Kakashi pictures from deviantart. You could say seeing those gave me the final push to write this story. Neither of them are mine of course, all credit goes to their artists. Go check them out if you are interested on how my description of Kakashi might look.

Read on and enjoy.

000

_Outskirts of Konohagakure_

_Kyuubi's Sealing_

000

Hiruzen and two other shinobi stood outside of Kushina's chakra barrier, waiting impatiently for it to go down. They wanted to stand by the Hokage and help defeat the tailed beast but even the venerable Sandaime could not break through the barrier. Whatever Kushina and Minato were doing, they were doing it alone.

"Sandaime-sama, there must be something we can do!" One of the shinobi flanking him, a fellow Sarutobi, said in frustration.

"Not even the Yondaime can take the Kyuubi alone. We have to do something!" The other said, clenching his fist in anger.

Sarutobi understood their feelings as he shared them. There was a certain point that a battle would reach where events were out of your control that would affect the outcome. That situation was one of those events and they would have to deal with the aftermath. He knew Minato and Kushina and because of that he was afraid they would do something rash.

They watched as the Kyuubi growled and struggled in the chains that held it. It was as if any moment it could break loose, as the idea of a tailed beast being held down by simple steel was hard to fathom. The chains were not made of steel though, it was Kushina's chakra; the jinchuuriki that had held Kyuubi back for the past two decades, she would not falter now.

It was not long before an amazing thing happened, the Nine Tails shrunk in size. The Third had never seen anything like it. Before, it had towered over the treetops with ease; only bits of red fur and tips of its ears peeked out from the surrounding forest.

"_What is going on in there..Minato, Kushina." _Sarutobi muttered, the night was already bad enough._ 'You have a son now, don't do anything rash.'_

"Sir, the barrier!" They observed the bright chakra barrier start to break down, receding.

They could no longer sense Kyuubi, nor could they see it. Regardless they approached with caution as they made their way through the small forest and into the clearing. What they saw there would stay with them the rest of their lives; there the two parents lay near their child, positioned in such a way the Sandaime knew they had shielded the newborn.

The blood from their grievous wounds soaked the bed where Naruto lay. Despite the situation, the child could still smile through its tears. A seal that adorned the little blonde's stomach quickly told Hiruzen what he did not want to know, but needed to.

_'So that was your plan , Minato..you really were thinking with your head.'_

Behind him the two shinobi were still trying to wrap their heads around the situation. There was little time to waste if the Sandaime wanted to control the situation.

"Rito!"

He turned to look at the jounin he had known since the boy was in academy. With such a delicate situation, the only ones he could trust were those closest.

"Go get the Medical Corps, they need to attend to the Yondaime and his wife." Even in death, the two still deserved the best the village could offer.

"Yes, Sandaime-sama!" As soon as he left, Hiruzen turned to the other Sarutobi.

His brow was covered in sweat from the previous battle and stress of the night. The forehead protector that adorned his head covered his slick brown hair, trimmed short. At least a head taller than Hiruzen, he was a loyal family member that the old man could trust.

"Shin.." The young man pulled himself from the tragic scenery and looked at the former Hokage, waiting for orders.

"Yes, Hiruzen-sama." If the truth escaped about Naruto then nothing good could come of it for the boy.

"We need to get Naruto out of here. Can I entrust that to you?"

They looked at the little boy who had stopped laughing and now, more appropriately, was crying. Most likely, he missed his parents' touch.

"Naruto..you mean this boy?" Very few had been made privilege to Kushina's pregnancy, let alone the name chosen for the child.

"Yes. With Kyuubi sealed inside of him, he is the new jinchuuriki. Not only that but Minato's enemies might take this opportunity to harm him. We need to keep him safe and his identity secret."

Shin said nothing but nodded. The situation was grave and, although he didn't understand the full gravity of it, he knew the innocent child did not deserve whatever fate had in store for him. If there was something he could do to help then he would do it.

"I understand. Where shall I take him?" Hiruzen approached the altar and gathered Naruto up in the bed cloth.

With no small amount of care, as if the child was made of glass, he gave him to Shin. Accepting him into his arms, the young Sarutobi waited for further orders.

"To my home. Once the crisis has been properly dealt with Asuma and I will return and take care of him. Please, watch over him until then."

"With my life, Hiruzen-sama." He leaped away with the bundle held close to his chest, leaving nothing but a shadow in his stead.

Trusting that they would arrive safely, Hiruzen turned to look over the two fallen heroes. With a heavy heart he shifted them so that both lay on their backs. In that way he hoped they would be a bit more at ease. Despite himself, Sarutobi could not help but let loose a few tears as he gazed upon their faces.

_'Even until the end, both of you..'_

The two proud parents wore their smiles with pride. They died just as they had lived, together and happy.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Hiruzen's Home_

000

Just as was ordered of him, Shin stood near the bedside where he had let Naruto lay. He waited for Hiruzen and his son to return home.

Amazingly, the trip had been without incident and no one attempted to stop him. For that he was thankful, he would rather not have to do any more fighting that night. Too many of his friends had been lost, too much blood had been spilled in the streets for him to lift his kunai to another.

Despite everything Shin knew about children, he could not understand the young Namikaze. When he should have been crying and thrashing in his sleep, Naruto remained quiet their entire trip. Indeed, the infant was smiling as he lay comfortably on the bed.

_'It seems he has inherited his mother's cheerfulness.'_ Although he did not know her well, Shin had encountered Kushina on occasion.

A bit odd, the woman always seemed to have something to smile about. He realized now that it was a blessing she had bestowed upon her child. It would be interesting to see whom the child would resemble more, the Yondaime or his wife.

The door to the home opened and Shin heard two people enter. Both were talking very loudly so he did not have to strain himself much to hear. It seemed Hiruzen's youngest son was arguing about something with his father.

"Why did you ask me to come back here? We still don't know what happened to mother!"

"Asuma, please. There are shinobi everywhere trying to track down your mother and the rest of those who are missing. Right now I need your help with something." The exasperated elder was clearly having trouble keeping his son under control, understandably.

From what Shin understood she was one of the closest confidants during the pregnancy. Biwako must have fallen victim to whatever plot released the Nine Tails. It was a loss that would be hard for any of the Sarutobi to recuperate from, let alone her youngest son.

"What could possibly be more important than-"

The bedroom door opened and the dark room was illuminated by the hallway light. Shin bowed in respect as Hiruzen and Asuma entered, their eyes on the bright blonde baby.

"Hiruzen-sama."

"Well done Shin, thank you." With that, the guardian excused himself; surely he had friends and family he needed to attend to.

Asuma did not understand what was going on and looked to his father for guidance. Who was this kid? He did not look like a Sarutobi with his bright blonde hair and whisker marks.

"This is what I need your help with. What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room, do you understand?" His son nodded slowly, dumbfounded by the situation.

"From now on, this child will be your younger brother. It will be up to you to teach him what it means to be a shinobi and to watch out for him."

Hiruzen knew he was asking a lot from Asuma. His wife he was afraid was surely deceased and that kind of impact would hurt their family greatly. There was no doubt that their strength and loyalty would be tried as they juggled rebuilding the village and caring for Naruto.

There was one thing that the seasoned shinobi knew though, and that was that they could not allow the Yondaime's sacrifice to be in vain. If there was any other way, Hiruzen knew that Minato would not have sealed the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. Whatever plan he came up with, it was their duty to make sure it was carried out to the end.

"Tou-san..I know I said that having a little brother would be nice but..this is the Yondaime's kid right? Shouldn't they be-" Hiruzen looked at his son, his face told him why that sentence should not be finished.

So that was the price Konoha had to pay in order to defeat the Nine Tails. This child was their legacy now, what kind of guy would he be if he refused?

The older Sarutobi watched as his son's face hardened into what he knew was determination. He placed his hand on Asuma's shoulder and silently thanked him.

"We will talk more about this in the morning. For now, I want you to stay with Naruto while I organize the search efforts."

With his father gone, Asuma was unsure of what to do. Alone with Naruto his strength and earlier confidence was sapped. He knew next to nothing about babies, being the youngest of the Sarutobi.

Holding back a sigh, the now older brother unzipped his flak vest as he made his way to Naruto. Gently, he sat next to his sleeping form in an effort not to wake him. Unsure of what to say, he just watched Naruto's little chest go up and down in tune to his breathing.

"Hey..little guy.." He scratched his head, trying to alleviate the awkwardness. "Guess I'm your big brother now..Not sure exactly what I have to do but..I promise I'll do my best."

Naruto stirred and Asuma was unsure of what to do. When he did not cry, Asuma figured that maybe his voice was keeping him calm. True or not, it was incentive enough for him to continue.

"Maybe this is not the best time to introduce myself but..I'm Asuma Sarutobi. Nice to meet you, Otouto."

As a joke he held out his hand above Naruto, for him to shake. It worked as Naruto let loose a high pitched giggle breaking the tense atmosphere. The Chunin was thrown for a loop when Naruto reached up with his little hand and gripped one of his fingers, completing the shake.

Always one to adapt to the situation, Asuma smiled and finished the shake by gently holding Naruto's hand in his own.

"You and I will get along just fine I think."

000

_A few weeks later.._

_Hiruzen's Home_

000

"No Kurenai, wait up!"

"Now is not the time for secrets, Asuma!"

The young Chunin raced to the front door of the Sarutobi residence. Hiruzen was taken aback as Kurenai, one of Asuma's closest female friends, came bursting through the door with an out of breath Asuma not far behind.

"Sorry Tou-san.." The teen tried to catch his breath. "But she was too fast."

Kurenai was not known for her rebellious nature, at least to those who weren't her father, and she quickly bowed to the Hokage. She was not prone to such outbursts of energy as she generally preferred a calm, methodical approach to problems. But Asuma had been too frustrating and tight lipped about whatever was happening at home; having to skip their lunches early, shopping for little kid clothes, her intuition told her something was off.

"My apologies Hokage-sama..but I would like to ask you a question." Hiruzen already had a sneaking suspicion of what it was and he began to wonder if he could turn this in his favor.

Since the aftermath of the Kyuubi's attack he had returned to his place as Sandaime Hokage. In that time, both he and Asuma had been busy ensuring the village at least appeared normal to outside eyes. He picked up the slack in paperwork as quickly as he could and Asuma went on the great many missions that were piling up, their clientele having no idea that Konoha's ninja strength had been halved.

In that time, just as Hiruzen had predicted, their attention was forced from Naruto. In the time he needed them the most, they could barley afford the time to care for his basic needs. Perhaps if they had a woman's help, even that of young Kurenai, they could begin to properly support Naruto's growth.

"Go on." The old man gestured for her to continue, his hands clasped in front of him as he sat at the kitchen table.

"Has Asuma been..seeing anyone recently?" Both of the Sarutobi were put off by that question as it was a very..intimate way of asking about a child.

"Kurenai! What is that supposed to mean?!" Asuma harshly whispered in her ear, but he was ignored.

"Not that I know of..why do you ask?" He responded with an innocent smile.

It was cute to see the younger generation handle their love problems without even realizing it.

"It's just that..Asuma has been leaving early from all of our meetings. I even saw him.." The girl was clearly embarrassed to say something "buying baby clothes. So I thought that-"

Hiruzen held up a hand, barely holding back a chuckle. He had heard enough and his son was plenty red in the face, it was time to salvage the situation.

"We have a baby in our home, that is why Asuma has been so busy. You see, he is now the older brother and has to take care of him when I can't."

Kurenai's eyes widened in understanding; she had been right that something had happened. She thanked the Hokage for telling her and, as an afterthought, mumbled an apology to the still red Asuma.

As if on cue, Naruto began to cry. Asuma cursed under his breath and ran to check on him with Kurenai following behind, curious. They entered the makeshift 'baby' room, a hastily converted guest bedroom with Asuma's old crib and toys laying about.

Naruto must have heard the shouting and was showing his dissatisfaction. The two shinobi stood over him, looking down at his frowning face. As the older brother, Asuma did his best to calm him down by talking but it was doing no good.

Kurenai had been ensnared by Naruto's cuteness, at first unable to respond. Pushing the clueless boy aside, she gently took the infant in her arms and cradled him close to her chest.

Hiruzen watched from the doorway as Kurenai rocked him back and forth back to sleep. The two men were amazed when the boy stopped crying and started to smile. Fascinated by her long hair, the blonde twirled it around in his fingers as he fell into a deep sleep.

Asuma could not help but blush at how Kurenai easily handled the baby. She made it look so easy when he was clueless. More so, she even seemed happy dealing with the crying child.

"Nicely done, Kurenai-san." Awoken from her stupor, she turned to see the Hokage watching her.

She did an impromptu bow in thanks, unsure of what came over her. It just felt natural to hold him in her arms for whatever reason.

"Kurenai..you are amazing." Asuma whispered, making the girl blush.

"It is nothing, really." She tried to assure the both of them, still holding Naruto close.

"Perhaps it is not my place to ask something like this of you Kurenai-san, but Asuma and I would appreciate any help you can give us. We are trying to take care of him without help, but it is too much for the both of us. With a woman's touch perhaps..you could do more good than we can?"

Kurenai had no reason to accept other than it being a request from the Hokage. She was not even sure who the baby's parents were, or what his name was. That much work coming to see him everyday would surely tire her out.

But..he was cute she had to admit. Any girl would fall for those whisker marks and bright blonde hair.

_Blonde hair.._

Her eyes widened, suddenly she had a better hunch of who that baby belonged to. There was no need to say so though as she assumed that his presence there was some sort of secret.

As if to acknowledge what she just figured out, Hiruzen approached her. He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him with her crimson eyes. They needed to make sure she understood the situation.

"It goes without saying that we have been trying to keep him secret. We would both appreciate it if you did the same. If the wrong people discovered that he existed, there would be trouble."

Kurenai nodded, understanding somewhat. The Yondaime was a great man but even he had his enemies. Looking at him again, she had to ask herself what kind of person could want to harm this little one?

"I'll do what I can Hokage-sama..but can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

She looked back down at the young child that slept in her arms, he seemed so peaceful now. There was just one thing she needed to know before she signed up for the task.

"What is his name?"

Hiruzen and Asuma both breathed a silent sigh of relief and smiled. With a bit of pride only a grandparent could give, he announced the name of the village's future hero.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

000

_Konohagakure_

_Ninja Academy_

000

"Are you sure about this, Asuma-nii?"

"It's finally time for you to get out of the house and go to school, Naruto. Tou-san and I both agree on it."

Asuma and Naruto stood in front of the school gates as the first day of academy was starting. The new students were all saying goodbye to their parents and heading inside. There were a few like Naruto who were apprehensive, but they were soon dragged along by friends. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have anyone like that so it was up to his older brother to get him inside.

"But why do I have to leave?"

"You need to grow up to be a shinobi like me and Tou-san. They will teach you how." He gestured toward the instructors who were welcoming the children by the entrance.

"Why can't you?" Asuma laughed and got down on one knee to be at equal height with the young jinchuuriki.

Naruto was sporting a simple black top with beige shorts, his blonde hair still spiky and free. He had done a lot of growing up the past few years with Kurenai and Asuma watching over him. Really, it was amazing the progress he had made, but he was doomed to stay an introvert if they left him at home.

Naruto needed to meet people and have a solid training foundation before Asuma was willing to keep him all to himself. His father had appointed the older brother in charge of Naruto's training outside of the academy and honestly, Asuma could not wait to teach him what he knew. But if it was for Naruto's sake, he could wait.

"These guys are much better teachers than I am, besides, here you can make friends your age."

Naruto still did not seem convinced so Asuma tried something different. He untied his headband protector and held it close to Naruto's face for him to see. It was the symbol of graduation, proof that a person was finally ready to start down the path of shinobi. Everyone who met Naruto knew how he secretly coveted it, how much he wanted wear one himself.

"If you want to have one of these for yourself, hurry up and pass all the tests they give you. If you can do that, then I promise I will teach you everything I know. How about that?"

Naruto gave him a skeptical look, raising an eyebrow. Even at the age of five, Naruto was becoming a shrewd negotiator.

"All I have to do is pass their tests, then we can train together?" Asuma nodded, and Naruto smiled.

Without warning he turned around and started running for the academy. He called out behind him, getting his older brother's attention.

"Hold onto that for me! It'll be mine soon!" Asuma looked at his forehead protector and laughed, watching Naruto enter with a smile.

That wasn't so hard, he thought as he retied the band around his head. He headed out to tell the Hokage that Naruto made it there safely. After that, maybe he would find Kurenai and see if she was willing to pick the little guy up from his first day of school.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Hiruzen's Home_

000

Naruto sat on the edge of his bed, shifting uncomfortably in response to the yelling happening outside. It had been like that for the past few weeks, even the most insignificant conversation could set them off. Throughout it all, the blonde had no idea what to do or say, so he just stayed in his room.

Asuma and Hiruzen were in the middle of a shouting match over what to do about Biwako and her killers. Although they had known since shortly after Naruto's birth she had died during Kyuubi's attack, it was only until recently that information was found that implicated certain shinobi in the orchestrated attack.

Hiruzen sought a cautious approach to the situation as the information was in no way reliable. Asuma on the other hand believed that they should follow it up aggressively. He wanted to get those bastards back for what they had done to his mother, to his village! This was the first time they had a major disagreement with each other and it was tearing their family apart.

"How can you just sit there and let them get away with what they did?! They are right there in front of us!"

"This village can't afford to go on another witch hunt Asuma, not after the Uchiha." Hiruzen referred to the blame placed on Uchiha for the Kyuubi attack, which had since been found to be false.

That didn't stop the growing animosity between the Uchiha and the village, but that was a different argument entirely. His son wanted to divert resources from something he truly believed to be nothing more than a wild goose chase.

"What if it is true? Are you willing to let my mother's murderers go free?!" Asuma was enraged that the village was forsaking his family just to keep up the illusion of peace.

"Biwako was my wife and I love her dearly. But I will not waste lives just to discover the truth behind a rumor. Your mother wouldn't want that."

Naruto began to cry as the yelling got louder and the argument grew. A cold draft fell over the room as the window was opened and a slender figure entered. She had gotten used to making quiet entrances since those terrible arguments began.

Kurenai sat next to Naruto and wrapped him in her arms, trying her best to comfort him. She knew that, regardless of whether it was their business or not, the fights were hurting others close to the Sarutobi. Not even she was immune to it and she feared today would be Asuma's breaking point. That was why she came, to make sure Naruto didn't do anything rash.

Naruto had done everything right, just like his brother said to. He graduated at the top of his class only a year after entering the academy. Soon after, Asuma started to train him with Kurenai and Hiruzen supporting him. Everything had been going fine until that so-called evidence turned up. She stood with the Hokage, it was too rash to run off and try to act on the second hand information.

But Asuma was stubborn, his feelings had been pent up since the day of the attack. His mind was waiting for a moment like this to let everything out. Now his family and friends were on the receiving end.

"What do we do Kurenai nee-chan?" Naruto asked her, the headband he inherited from Asuma covered his tear stained eyes.

"There isn't anything we can do Naruto-kun." She told him sadly, the worst thing they could do is get in between the two Sarutobi.

They continued to hold each other as Asuma loudly declared he was leaving and slammed the front door shut. The house became deathly silent as Hiruzen must have tried to collect himself from the argument.

"I thought..i-I thought that everything would go ba-back to normal..why is Asuma-nii leaving?" Naruto rocked himself, crying into Kurenai's bosom.

They were supposed to train today. Then they were going to go out to lunch with Kurenai and Anko. That night the Sarutobi's were going to see their new nephew and grandson, Konohamaru.

Why did it have to turn out like that?

Kurenai was at a loss for words, still trying to come to grips with the situation herself. As tears came to her eyes, she could only hold onto Naruto tighter. Their relationship had grown incredibly close the past few years since he became a genin; Naruto was like a younger brother to her and that was why she could not stand to see him cry.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun..I don't know either."

It hurt her to be at such a loss for words, but even she couldn't fathom why Asuma was willing to leave everything behind just for some vendetta.

000

_Konohagakure_

_North Gate_

000

Naruto and Kurenai waited with bated breath as a lone figure walked down the road. Just a few days ago they received word that Asuma was returning home from his journey. Both made sure they had time to prepare for his arrival, both by putting it into their busy schedules and by thinking of what to say.

"Here he comes.." Kurenai said with a little bit of annoyance, like a mother waiting to greet a son who stayed out late.

"He looks like a mess.." Naruto said matter-of-factly, as the man got closer it was clear he had not received a proper haircut or shave in a while.

Not only that, but he looked out of place without his flak vest and headband. It was at that point that both of them would use the term 'bum' to describe Asuma, although they would never admit it.

Lucky for him, the village had been thriving even with his absence. Naruto and Kurenai both had been doing well by using each other as support. With Hiruzen's encouragement, Naruto even got to go on a few missions with Kurenai to keep his skills sharp. Due to Naruto's sensitive position, he was left out of a genin squad. The Third had something special planned for him, Kurenai assumed.

With Asuma's return, perhaps that plan would come to fruition.

"Hey guys.." Asuma addressed his small welcoming party, glad to see them.

Just now noticing how close he was, the two struggled to find the right words. Naruto recovered first and, with little warning, punched Asuma hard in the gut. He remembered how Kurenai and even Hiruzen had said they wanted to 'knock some sense' into Asuma while he was away, and he figured he would do it for all three of them.

The power behind the punch was enough to make the older ninja double over, the air ripped from his lungs. It also served to wake up Kurenai who had to fight herself from going to help him. She had to stay angry, if nothing else for herself.

"That was for making Kurenai cry." Naruto, now eleven, had outgrown his cute brother and sister titles he had given the both of them.

Even then, he still had his trademark smile. Naruto couldn't stay angry for long as he helped Asuma up with the strength he had been developing from his individual training. He was truly becoming a powerful shinobi.

"Remind me.." Asuma took a deep breath, hands on his knees. "Never to do that again."

He looked at the woman in question and saw her in her usual angry stance; arms crossed, red eyes locked on target. As usual, he thought, that he be the object of it. This time he rightfully deserved it for leaving them.

"Hello Kurenai.." She just gave him a nasty look before walking off, the cold shoulder making him feel absolutely frozen.

_'Well..guess I did deserve that punch.'_

"Don't worry, Kurenai is always like that when she is angry." Naruto seemed to know this as well as he did; within the next few days she would be back to normal.

"Yeah, that would be our Kurenai." Asuma looked at Naruto and saw him starting to dress more properly for his age.

Naruto was wearing one of Asuma's dark blue long sleeve shirts and a pair of blue pants with his black sandals. All that was missing was his flak vest, Asuma wondered if he had been promoted yet. The red swirls of the Uzumaki proudly adorned his shoulders, although he might have been none the wiser to their significance.

Hiruzen said that until Naruto was ready to take up his parents' mantle, they could not tell him the truth. For now they had played a game of cat and mouse with Naruto's questions that kept him guessing. If they were not careful in how they answered, the young boy could get the wrong idea about his heritage that they might never be able to fix. If they told him too early, the responsibility would be too much for him to handle.

"Come on, the Hokage said he wanted to see you." Naruto led him to the large red building in the center of town.

Asuma shouldered his pack of belongings before following behind. Although he hadn't been gone for more than a few years, the village felt so different. Maybe the trip gave him a new appreciation for the tranquil effect it seemed to have on him.

Not a day went by that he did not think of his family in Konoha when he left. He almost immediately regretted leaving, but his stubborn pride refused to allow him to return until he accomplished something. The rumors of his mother's killers turned up with nothing and he was left wandering the countryside. That was until he received an invitation to join the Twelve Guardian Ninjas of the Fire Daimyo, who had heard of his previous exploits in the village.

He learned and experienced a great many things while in service of the Daimyo. Possibly the most important one was appreciation; whether it be people, objects, or feelings, to be able to have any of those things should be enough for anyone. The trip also taught him what betrayal felt like to be on the receiving end; he wondered if his father felt something of what he felt when they had their last argument and Asuma walked out.

They entered the red building after receiving some hellos, most still didn't recognize Asuma with how he looked. There was a moment when the man wanted to rush out and get a haircut and change into something more proper, but then he realized that his father wanted to see him immediately for a reason. He wanted to know what this trip had done for him, and to him.

"Come in." Naruto had already knocked on the door to Hiruzen's office, giving Asuma little time to prepare.

They entered quickly to find the elder Sarutobi hard at work with paperwork, as usual. There was little rest for the Hokage even in peace time. Even with his son returning from absence for the past three years, the Hokage would not afford himself a break.

"Ah Naruto-kun, I see your mission was successful." Naruto bowed to the Hokage and then moved out of the way to present Asuma.

"Yes, I picked him up just like you asked."

_'That was a mission, sneaky little..'_ Just when he thought his little brother was nice enough to make time for him, Asuma watched as the blonde received his payment for the completed mission.

"Perfect, now I can treat Kurenai tonight." Hiruzen smiled, glad to see Naruto was not letting himself stray even when Asuma returned.

They all needed to show Asuma that the world continued to revolve, with or without him.

Just when Naruto was about to dismiss himself, Hiruzen stopped him.

"Wait a minute Naruto, what I have to say to Asuma affects you as well." Suddenly his good mood soured as Naruto took his place next to his older brother.

Taking the moment of silence as his chance, Asuma bowed deeply.

"I'm very sorry father. I made a bad judgment when I chose to follow my emotions rather than your advice. Please forgive me."

The room remained silent as they gauged the others reaction. Would his father cave or would Asuma realize his apology would not work?

"Who was right and who was wrong does not concern me now, Asuma. What concerns me is your brash decision to leave the village, against orders. We will discuss that later, however, as I assume you will be rejoining the regular forces?" Hiruzen sought to steer the conversation and Asuma was more than willing to let him.

"Yes, if you would allow it."

With a nod to Naruto, Hiruzen gave an important signal. From Naruto's waist pouch, he pulled out a very important forehead protector he had been taking care of since Asuma's leave. Thrown to the ground inside of the Sarutobi's home in anger, Naruto had since restored it to its former sheen. They had been waiting to give it back to him and this seemed like the perfect moment to do so.

Asuma took it gratefully, marveling in it for a moment before tying it tightly around his forehead. With that out of the way, Hiruzen brought up the most important part of the meeting. It had to do with Naruto's progression as a ninja and how it was in danger of failing.

"Asuma, as you know, Naruto is the Nine Tail's jinchuuriki." Shortly after he came into the Sarutobi family, Asuma was made aware; he was reminded during their early training sessions for safety concerns. "This has led the council to being careful in how they allow him to progress as a shinobi."

Because of the importance the jinchuuriki holds in a village's military power, the Hokage could not make decisions involving it alone. That left the council with a certain amount of power to better control Naruto as they saw fit. Much of the pressure was no doubt from Danzo attempting to keep the blonde from becoming too powerful or influential in the village's processes.

Asuma had feared something like that might happen, but he had hoped Hiruzen would be able to close off their protests. It seemed as though it was impossible for him to do alone though.

"Now that you have returned, I can finally start moving forward with Naruto's training. I am going to put him under your tutelage and, because your rank is already jounin, there should be no trouble you taking him on missions. These missions will count toward Naruto's mission count and gain him valuable experience. Eventually, we should be able to work out a way for him to become a Chunin, depending on how well you two work together."

Asuma nodded, he was willing to do whatever it took to get his younger brother where he deserved to be. It was the least he could do for missing out on some of the most important years of his life.

The Hokage turned to Naruto who had been silently listening to the conversation, having already been made aware of the political machinations of the council in previous meetings. Naruto was more mature than the council suspected, no doubt shown in his amazing progress as a shinobi and the robust schedule he had created for himself.

Juggling his social life with the older ninja like Kurenai, Anko, and Shin with his training was more than most his age could attest to.

"I want you to know Naruto, that the reason I am trying so hard to have you receive this promotion is not some emotion or favoritism. You have great potential and you deserve a chance to be a shinobi this village can count on, regardless of what the council thinks."

"I understand, Hokage-sama. Thank you." Naruto bowed, truly grateful.

Everyday he saw how politics of the village wore on his grandfather. Sometimes he blamed himself for it, only to be scolded by Hiruzen. None of it was Naruto's fault, if anything it was his own for not being able to reel in Danzo from his political schemes.

"After this, be sure to get yourself cleaned up. You are representing Konoha again, you know." Naruto stifled a laugh and Asuma agreed.

They were dismissed for the rest of the day, allowing the two brothers to once again be with one another. With one arm around the blonde's shoulder, Asuma promised that day was the start of something great. Maybe he was right.

000

Shortly after the two left Hiruzen's office, another figure appeared for an audience. They had a slender figure, covered with gray armor and tight black cloth. Their face was covered by a porcelain mask that took the shape of a dog, red and black markings running along the face and eyes. Long silver hair reached down the middle of their back, with a few strands that fell idle over the left side of her face.

The ANBU did not wait to be addressed before beginning to speak. They knew each other well enough to know how to speak comfortably. Even then, her place required her to be as formal as possible when speaking to the Hokage.

"You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" Her light, dull voice easily betrayed her boredom.

Not even the ANBU were immune from long breaks between missions, especially so considering the work they had to do. She had joined the prestigious organization at a young age to try and lose herself in the work, to forget about the war. It worked, for a time at least, but even ANBU could not escape their past. Still, she was doing good work for the village so she pressed on.

"Yes Inu, I have a new mission for you."

She waited for the details; another tracking and assassination of a missing-nin. There seemed to be more and more of those since the Uchiha clan's destruction. Whether they feared for their own lives or decided the village had changed in some way they did not like she did not know, however, there was no escape from her ninken.

"Understood, we will begin immediately." The ANBU turned to leave.

Hiruzen asked her to wait a moment as he had something else to ask her. That was not usual in their conversations, they were generally very business-like.

"Inu, remove your mask." With a bit of hesitation, she complied.

With the animal mask off, her soft and well defined face was on rare display. It was one of the few times she did not have her face mask up as she had just finished eating and was not expecting to have to show her face. A long scar ran down her closed left eye where the sharingan was implanted, but it had stopped bothering her a long time ago.

Her soft, pink lips remained in an unamused frown and her right eye likewise stayed half closed. Even if she was totally revealed, her cool demeanor still remained.

"Kakashi.." He finally used her real name, something she rarely heard during her time in the ANBU. "Have you given any thought to retiring from the ANBU?"

That was an odd question that the Sandaime had not asked her before. She wondered what his interest was, as she had nothing but a stellar record during her tenure in the organization. Had she done something wrong?

He quickly sought to remedy her confusion by following up his original question with a proper explanation.

"You see, a new batch of genin is being prepared by the academy as we speak-"

"I can't Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen sighed, he was afraid she would respond like that. It seemed she was still not ready to face the responsibility of handling genin of her own. Until she handled that familiar sense of failure she garnered during the war with the loss of her team-mates, Kakashi would continue to feel the ANBU were her only safe haven. In truth, taking on a squad of genin would probably be her best therapy.

"Very well Kakashi, I won't push you. Return to your duties."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." She pulled the cloth mask up over her face, followed by the porcelain one.

Inu returned, then bowed, and proceeded to leave without another word. Her partner, Tenzou, leaned against the wall waiting for her to get done. It had taken a surprisingly long amount of time which was unusual, but their masks prevented any obvious emotion from being portrayed.

"Anything wrong, senpai?"

"No, the mission details took longer than expected. Let's go." They disappeared in a blur to make preparations.

Kakashi was still on the run from her past, but how long would it take before it came back to bite her?

000

_Yuki no Kuni_

_Kazahana Castle_

000

Kakashi made her way through the long, lavish hallways of the Kazahana family estate. She had been summoned by the daimyo, Sousetsu Kazahana. It was her guess that he wanted to thank her for the work she had done as her mission would soon come to an end.

As a military adviser from Konoha, it had been Kakashi's duty the past year or so to train the Yuki ninja in an effort to strengthen relations between the two villages. They had been surprisingly receptive, adapting traditional methodology to modern shinobi techniques that only a major village like Konoha could have experience in. Another mission that would go off without a hitch, it would seem.

Because of the sensitive nature of the mission as well as the pacifistic nature of the objectives, she was sent alone. Though she thought little of it during her mission briefing, in the event of an attack she would be at a disadvantage. She had already examined the shinobi of Yuki and was thoroughly unimpressed; even with her training they received, she knew that none of them would be a considerable threat to her.

That was why in that past year while she had been staying in Kazahana castle, she had allowed a fraction of her guard to fall. She would sorely reprimand herself for this later in life.

Kakashi passed a few maids making their way to Koyuki Kazahana's room, the heir to the throne. They did not interact much, but the silver haired shinobi had answered a few of her questions about Konoha. She seemed amazed to hear about the seasons of spring and summer, where trees had green leaves growing from them.

Shortly after she entered into the throne room through a large set of wooden doors that required two men to open. Inside lay the throne room where, on the other side of the room and up a flight of stairs, lay a platform where the throne sat with Sousetsu occupying it. The ANBU walked forward until she was at the steps where she bowed in respect.

The man adjusted his glasses and smiled, happy to see her. It was bittersweet as he knew her time staying with the family had come to an end, but it was always pleasure to meet someone new.

"You may rise Kakashi, I've told you that before." She rose from the bow, slightly adjusting the dog mask.

"Apologies, Kazahana-sama." Somehow he questioned whether she meant that, but he ignored it.

"I just wanted to thank you for your work, as well as ask you to send the same thanks to your leaders in Konoha. We could not have made it this far without you."

"I will be sure to do that, Kazahana-sama." Before she could be excused, a messenger came rushing into the room.

He bowed deeply for disturbing but whatever was happening, it was too important to wait. The old man seemed white as a ghost and he tripped over his words so much that Sousetsu had to ask him to start over.

"My lord..the castle..it is under siege!" The daimyo immediately rose from his seat, in shock.

Kakashi had an outward appearance of calm as she stood there, waiting for more information. Inside she was not entirely too concerned; what worried her the most is that she never picked up on the intent of whoever dared to attack the castle. Her enhanced hearing allowed her to listen to samurai and staff run through the halls, preparing to meet the threat.

"What?! Who dares to-" Behind them, the door slammed open and the body of a samurai came launching toward them.

Kakashi angled her head out of the way as the body sailed past, making a wet crunch against the stairs. Three ninja entered the room, all equipped with the experimental chakra armor Kakashi had had the privilege to try out for herself. Unfortunately, it looked a lot more sophisticated since the last time she saw it.

Their leader was one she recognized, a prominent Yuki ninja by the name of Nadare Rouga. His long, lavender hair was tied into a ponytail and his pupil-less teal eyes stared at her with a hungry tint. She had avoided his pitiful advances since the beginning and she assumed his frustration would be enough to give up, apparently not.

"Sousetsu Kazahana and the infamous Kakashi Hatake, just the two people I wanted to see." He said in an arrogant tone, as if he already had control of the situation.

Sousetsu knew the shinobi and already had a sneaking suspicion of where his loyalties lied. His concern was elsewhere, for his daughter.

"Kakashi, please get my daughter out of the castle." The daimyo pleaded as Kakashi got into a fighting stance, knees bent and hand on her tanto sword.

"I will handle these intruders, Kazahana-sama. Please escape while I do." Underneath her mask, Kakashi released the sharingan.

The two shinobi on Nadare's flanks, a woman with pink hair and a large man with dark pupils, launched forward in an attempt to kill the daimyo. Kakashi launched forward in a blur, faster than any of them could see. Her image reappeared behind both of them in mid-air, her sword had already swung. Both the enemy shinobi saw cuts over their chest and fell to the ground, clutching themselves in pain.

Nadare revealed his own kunai and met Kakashi in close combat. Inches from each other as their blades met and sparked, the disgusting man mocked her by sniffing her hair.

"Ah, what a wonderful scent you have Kakashi." She overpowered his defense and prepared to slice through his armor, but an attack on her flank forced her to turn.

Mizore had launched his metal arm at her, hitting her right in the face. It sent her flying back and into the stone wall, punishment for letting her guard down. Her dog mask shattered, revealing her red sharingan eye tracking the three enemy shinobi, her mind already working on a counter.

"A cornered animal is the most dangerous, be careful." Rouga said as they approached to finish her off.

The Kakashi in the wall exploded in a cloud of smoke, revealing it to be a trick. A series of smoke bombs dropped onto the ground from the ceiling, preventing them from seeing. In quick succession, Kakashi used pinpoint taijutsu strikes to bypass the chakra armor of Nadare's comrades and knock them unconscious.

Before she could reach Nadare, the fire spread to their part of the building and more Yuki shinobi appeared. Kakashi knew there were too many even for her to handle easily. She leaped over Nadare's head, launching her leg back down where she slammed the back of her foot against his head. While he was dazed she landed and sliced her way through the ninja guarding the entrance.

Remembering Koyuki, she ran in the direction of her room. On her way she passed many bodies of servants she had learned the names of over the past year. She hoped Sousetsu was able to escape but as the blood and fire followed her, that hope shrunk.

With the sound of enemy ninja close behind, Kakashi slammed through the door that led to the princess' room. She stood there, alone in front of a vanity mirror. As Kakashi went to grab her, the man-made fire spread to the door and started to envelop the room, frightening the poor girl who saw the reflection in the mirror. The shouts behind Kakashi grew louder as she whisked the girl into her arms, the sword on her back preventing a piggyback.

"Hang on tight and close your eyes." Kakashi shifted her onto one arm and reached into her waist pouch for shuriken.

"There they are, get them!" Nadare's voice came from the door, but it was too late.

Kakashi dashed forward toward a large window, throwing a few shuriken to weaken the glass. With a less than graceful crash through the makeshift exit, the two girls were outside and running for their lives across the castle rooftop. Fire was everywhere forcing the ANBU to watch her step, screams and sounds of battle echoed all around but she pressed on with her precious cargo.

Once they escaped the compound, Kakashi used the shadows to avoid the Yuki patrols. They were catching any who tried to escape, generally executing them on the spot.

With a bit of work she was able to find a dog sled often used for travel in the region and placed Koyuki onto the back. She held up a gloved finger to her masked lips, signifying the girl stay quiet. Not waiting for a response Kakashi covered her the best she could with a beige tarp generally used to hold down cargo. As soon as she got the dogs awake and up, she began to use the reins to control them.

"Oi, who's over there."

Kakashi looked over her shoulder and realized that even with the blizzard overtaking the mountain palace, the Yuki shinobi were able to see their shadows. There was no time to eliminate them, she had to escape now.

"Let's go!" Kakashi shouted to the dogs and that got them moving with a harsh jerking of their collars, shooting off for a nearby mountain pass.

Behind them, the trailing Yuki shinobi became small shadows in a larger orange haze; Kazahana castle was burning to the ground. As much as Kakashi wanted to say someone had escaped alive other than them, she doubted it.

Koyuki could wait no longer and looked up from her hiding place after realizing they were moving. She looked up and saw her once beautiful home now on fire, her father still inside.

The situation was too dire for Kakashi to gather her coat, so she was forced to keep her upper body moving for warmth. When she looked behind to check their progress she noticed Koyuki sobbing.

"What are you doing?! Cover yourself!" Kakashi said harshly as the girl again let the tarp fall over her, albeit slowly.

_'She must be experiencing shock..poor girl.'_ Kakashi bit back her emotions, she had to remain calm if she wanted to escape the country safely.

Konoha would not be happy to hear about the failure of her mission. Kakashi realized that she still could not protect anyone with her own hands.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Hokage's Office_

000

"Congratulations on another completed mission, you two." Asuma and Naruto informally bowed for Hiruzen's compliment.

"All in a day's work." The jounin said nonchalantly, scratching his growing facial hair.

The fourteen year old next to him just nodded. The mission had not been as difficult as the commissioner made it out to be, just a few bandits to get rid of on his property. Asuma had been nice enough to let Naruto do most of the work, it was nice a nice exercise for his muscles.

Naruto was still a genin, but Hiruzen said that with the next group of genin approaching, they offered a special opportunity. Neither of the duo were sure what he meant by 'special opportunity', but it was more than he had heard in the past three years in way of news toward his promotion. It was not that Naruto was seeking prestige or glory; he honestly was bored and felt like he could be doing a lot more for the village, like Asuma or Kurenai.

He could only leave when there was a jounin available to go out on a mission with, and they had to be a jounin the Hokage trusted. That left him with Asuma, Kurenai, and occasionally Shin Sarutobi. Although he had completed hundreds of missions since he became a genin, very few of them were more than simple chores.

"I will see you two later tonight, you are dismissed." The Sarutobi exited the room, allowing for the next appointment to enter.

In this case, a dog faced ANBU knelt in front of the table. She waited to be addressed as Hiruzen pondered the unexpected arrival.

"Inu, I wasn't expecting you."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I have..something I want to discuss with you." Kakashi seemed uncomfortable about something so he gestured she continue.

"I have given serious consideration to your offer of rejoining the regular forces. With help, I have come to realize that I am doing an injustice by not becoming an instructor for the future genin."

Sarutobi was surprised to hear Kakashi humble herself before him. Since joining the ANBU she had always kept up a cool, emotionless exterior in an attempt to hide her true feelings. It seemed something finally happened to change her mind. He could not say he was displeased with this announcement, however, as he knew she would make a great teacher.

"If that is what you want Kakashi, you may rejoin immediately. Come to me tomorrow for your first assignment, I have genin from the remedial class that are about to graduate that could use your..overview." Hiruzen sought the right term for Kakashi's test, he knew she would find the best way to handle it.

"Very well, Hokage-sama." She hesitantly grabbed and removed her porcelain mask, returning it to the Hokage.

In its place, she retied her headband over her left eye. Relatively unobstructed, her long silver bangs fell lazily to her left side, partially covering the protector.

"Thank you." She bowed and then disappeared in a blur.

Hiruzen waited a moment and then nodded to himself. He made the right decision after all, the answer he wanted was in her change of tone. Kakashi was already changing back to her old self, emotions she forced herself to hide resurfacing with the mask being taken away.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Training Grounds_

000

Naruto slammed his fist into the training dummy, shattering its frail straw form. That was the fourth one he had destroyed and he had only started to sweat. The night training was something he had begun recently in addition to the rest, it mainly served as a stress reliever.

Regardless of how supportive his family was, being stuck as a genin for seven years was frustrating. He knew he had to be patient, that his situation was 'delicate' as a jinchuuriki, but it still bothered him.

How much longer would he have to wait until he could finally show his potential?

Naruto stood there for a moment, collecting himself. He still wore a similar uniform to when he was younger, the standard Konoha outfit sans the vest. Since then he had added a pair of fingerless gloves that he felt comfortable in while training. Right when he was going to call it a night and return home, there was a flash of red in a nearby training ground that caught his attention.

Was someone using Katon?

He was decidedly curious and went in search of the person using the adjacent grounds. Fire release had always interested him since Hiruzen told him stories of the Sarutobi and their impressive use of the element. Thinking he could learn a thing or two, Naruto didn't think of much else other than observing the jutsu in action.

When he arrived it was a bit hard to make out the person, but he realized it was a woman relatively quickly because of her slender figure. With the moonlight aiding him, Naruto watched her stand on the water and do a few simple taijutsu stances to stretch.

She wore the standard Konohagakure uniform, but her shirt and pants clung tightly to her figure rather than the normal, loose attire. On her hands she too wore fingerless gloves, but they had metal plates on the back. At a certain point along her sandals, bandaged adorned them and covered most of her lower leg.

What stood out the most was her long, silver hair that seemed to capture all the light. It seemed to shine on its own. Naruto had never seen anything like it before.

Needless to say, Naruto was a bit smitten.

He watched her for a time from the forest, not sure who she was or what was on her mind. No, he was content just to watch, ensnared by her graceful movements and deadly strikes. So much was he preoccupied that when he realized how much time had passed, he stumbled to head home.

As her observer left in a hurry, Kakashi turned to see if she could catch a glimpse. Other than a bit of his blonde hair, Naruto Uzumaki had eluded her.

She had noticed him watching her from the start but didn't see any harm with it. In fact, she found it somewhat flattering someone took interest in her training, even if it was just a genin. Hopefully he learned something other than how to stalk a woman, she thought as a joke.

_'Perhaps I'll have the challenge of teaching him one day.'_

Kakashi wondered for a moment before returning to her training, she needed to be ready to meet the genin tomorrow. There wouldn't be any mercy thanks to her refreshing training experience that night.

000

First chapter is complete, I think I am pretty satisfied with this. It is one of my better introduction arcs I think. Can't wait to leap into the next one where we finally get to see some real interaction between the lazy jounin and the blonde chunin wannabe.

Reminder to check my profile and see the first link which properly displays Kakashi's attire as desribed in this chapter. This will most likely remain her look for the rest of the story, barring a few special occurrences perhaps.

Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think about the chapter and story.

Unless I write the next chapter of this, expect my next release to be for _Namikaze Assassin_.


	3. A Real Shinobi

Naruto: The Return of Darkness

Chapter 2

A Real Shinobi

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"Speaking"

"_Whisper"_

_'Thinking'_

_Writing/Text_

"**Jutsu**"

"**Tailed Beast/Demonic speak"**

Welcome to the second chapter of my NarufemKaka story, _The Rise of Darkness_. With this newest installment we leave the Introduction arc behind and welcome the Rise of a Shinobi arc. In it, we will see Naruto become a proper Konoha shinobi that his friends and family can be proud of.

A reminder that this is now in line with the manga time line, meaning we are at the 'start' of Part I. This means that Naruto is now 15, Kakashi 25, and the rest of Konoha 11 are their respective ages as genin.

000

_Land of Fire_

000

A group of thugs traveled along one of the many dirt roads that connected the Land of Fire's cities and villages. They were a disgusting lot, dirt caked their faces and dried blood covered their ripped garments. Some of them were nuke-nin, runaway ninja that had forsaken, or been forsaken, by their home village. Not even they had a shred of honor left, choosing to use their techniques for greed rather than for the greater good.

They had just recently come from raiding a nearby town for foodstuffs, their packs now full. A few of the townspeople put up a fight, but the blood made it clear what the outcome was. It seemed that they had been making an enemy out of the surrounding region and were planning to leave soon to avoid the authorities.

Unfortunately for them, it was too late to escape.

The sun beat down harshly on the band of renegades, no trees were around to cover them. All around were rolling hills and grassland; save for the bandits, whom only served as a mark of shame, the place was beautiful. They passed by a thicket of berry bushes on their route. Having heard that the local cuisine was made with the berries as a main part of the recipe, a couple of them decided to pick a few for the road ahead.

The main group paid them no heed and continued on the way. That disregard for their surroundings and fellow bandits would be their downfall as none of them noticed the two get roughly dragged into the bushes. Two shadows leaped from the leafy cover in pursuit of the main group as blood began to seep onto the main road.

Only one of the nuke-nin were able to pick up on anything before the ambush began, but by then it was too late. When the vanguard of their little caravan passed a certain marker, the explosive tags that were hidden in the dirt exploded, killing at least three and sending the rest of them flying back. They were slow to recover from the blast, too slow; picking on the weak had made _them_ weak.

One of the shadows landed amidst the group and swung his arms wide. Blood went flying as the chakra enhanced blade cut through those in range and scattered the others who were too afraid to fight. The supposed leader, a shaggy man whose bald head was covered in scars and his arm adorned with a crossed out Suna hitai-ate, tried to organize a defense and pulled together those who remained.

Before they could get far, the second shadow made their presence known. They were not as flashy as their partner, however, and chose to keep a certain distance. The attack was no less deadly.

"**Fūton: Suiran Reppū**."

A dozen kunai were let loose from what felt like all directions, each seemed to have its own target. The leader was able to escape the attack only to see the blade turn in direction and follow him. Having never seen such a technique, he panicked and put all his efforts in dodging the lethal blade. What this caused him to miss was the first shadow, now revealing themselves to be a Konoha shinobi, finishing off the rest of his men.

"How..how could something like this happen.." The ex-Suna shinobi again rolled out of the way but the kunai was close behind.

"Looks like your luck has run out pal." Before he could even turn around, the bandit was impaled by a blade of wind.

Asuma watched as the final enemy slumped to the ground, having fallen to his Flying Swallow taijutsu. The kunai that had been targeting the leader fell harmlessly to the ground as Naruto's technique ended. The blonde revealed himself from a nearby depression in the ground where he had stayed hidden. Even with his distance, Naruto had scored four hits with his technique and had successfully distracted the leader.

"Not bad, Naruto. I was expecting more though, I win again." Asuma bragged about his victory even though they both achieved roughly the same amount of kills.

Naruto dusted himself off from lying low in the grass, his blue pants would have stained if he remained any longer. Not one to be so concerned about simple numbers, the whiskered genin shrugged.

"If you count the explosive tag ambush, which was my idea, then we got the same amount of kills." Suddenly his brother did not seem as confident and it made Naruto laugh.

That lighthearted competition was what kept Naruto going after what seemed like the hundredth C-rank mission dealing with a bunch of pitiful bandits. He was so tired of remaining stationary while everyone around him had progressed; Naruto had personally witnessed two classes of genin progress to chunin, some of them were even held back.

Asuma wiped his brow, the sun was particularly harsh that afternoon. He saw his brother was not as concerned with only a mesh shirt and pants on. The faster they finished up getting rid of the bodies the sooner they could head home.

"Come on Naruto, give me a hand with collecting the bodies. Remember, we are supposed to see Hiruzen by sundown." With a grumbled affirmative, they gathered up the majority of the bandits in a pile and set fire to the bodies.

There was no reason to waste energy to take them to some morgue and they did not deserve the cost of burial. It was much easier just to give them an impromptu send off with a Katon technique, which Asuma provided. The missing-nin were a different story, however, as they had active bounties on their heads. All jounin had a bingo book on them, which allowed Asuma a unique chance to reap the rewards of the situation.

With a nice bonus awaiting them as long as they brought the bodies back, Asuma brought out a scroll and quickly sealed them away. Now that that nasty business was over, the duo could return home. Since the mission was not all that taxing and they were relatively close to Konoha already, the two decided to just enjoy the walk home.

It might very well be the last mission they share together, after all.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Hokage's Office_

000

Hiruzen was just finishing up the last of the day's paperwork when his last appointments for the day walked in. A smile came over his worn face as he saw his son and Naruto return safely. When they requested to be given one more mission together, he was unsure of which one to give them, and felt a bit uneasy when Naruto picked another combat-oriented C-rank.

It seemed that the trip together made whatever the risk was worth it, as neither had lost their smile they set out with.

"Asuma, Naruto. I hope things went well?"

The jounin nodded and placed a scroll on the Hokage's desk for his safekeeping. Curious, he waited for a proper explanation as he examined the seal placed on the beige fabric.

"We eliminated the bandit party as asked without any complications. Among them there were a few nuke-nin that had outstanding bounties in the bingo book, so we made sure to collect the bodies."

Now he understood the situation, it was fortunate the two made such a strong duo. Regardless of their rank, any nuke-nin was worth being cautious over.

"Very well then, after the bounties are totaled and collected you will receive a bonus. Nice work, both of you." They bowed but chose to stay as they felt there was more to be said.

The Sandaime lost his smile as it was replaced with a mixed frown. On the one hand, the news he had to give them was positive and it had to do with the long overdue promotion of the fifteen year old genin. The other side of the coin meant that Naruto would no longer be able to go on missions with Asuma, as the jounin had a team of his own to look after.

It had all already been decided upon, in fact they had already been acquainted.

Shortly before the two set out on the mission, teams 7, 8, and 10 were announced. Subsequently, the genin were able to meet their chosen jounin and get to know about one another. It was an important team building exercise that preceded the official test to see whether they would either pass or return to the academy. As the location and details of that test were unique to each team leader, Asuma chose to put it off.

"Naruto.." The blonde took a deep breath, an odd surge of anxiety flowed through him in anticipation. "The council can no longer delay your opportunity to become a chunin. Very soon, you will be put through a unique test that very few genin have ever been put through to see if you are chunin material."

Asuma placed a proud hand on his little brother's shoulder, they shared a smile. All the times he had been delayed seem to slip out of Naruto's mind as he took in that moment.

"Now in most cases you would go through the chunin exams to receive an opportunity for review. However, your case is unique in the fact that you have waited so long and have displayed many chunin-like qualities already. You need something more immediate, more direct to test your potential." That was not what either of them had been expecting as they thought with the close at hand Chunin exams he would be participating.

Naruto was happy he would not have to wait much longer, but all the preparation and study he did around the exams seemed to be wasted now. He hoped whatever the challenge was, it was something he already knew how to do. Hiruzen said it was direct, maybe it would be another mission?

"You will receive more details tomorrow when the council and I present you with the test, but suffice it to say that it will be in mission format. There will also be a team that will go with you, a jounin along with three genin."

"Hokage-sama, you don't mean-"

Hiruzen knew where Asuma's train of thought was going, but he was wrong if he thought it would be his team. No, for something so delicate as this situation he needed a finer touch.

"No Asuma, I don't mean your Team 10."

That gave the younger man a short pause before another name came to mind, but it too was wrong.

"Kurenai?"

"No, Asuma."

That left only one clear option and to be honest, Asuma was not that surprised. The fact alone he chose _her_ meant how important this must have been.

"Kakashi." He muttered, receiving a nod from Hiruzen.

The silver haired jounin had already passed her team of genin a few days prior; it was reason enough to be interested, considering it was her first team she passed. That alone told the Sandaime there was something special in the latest group, but he also had reason to believe that Kakashi and Naruto had already met. With luck, they would fit together well and perhaps form a better relationship after the mission.

They would have to if Hiruzen's plan was to continue to work.

Naruto for his part had still not identified the silver haired jounin he had watched train around a year ago. Out of embarrassment he refused to ask Asuma or Kurenai if they knew who she was. Having to explain how he came to meet Kakashi would have been awkward enough. That was why he was unable to see the significance in her name, although it was enough for him to know that he would not be working with Asuma or Kurenai on the mission.

"So, when should I report to the mission center?" Naruto asked, hoping to move the conversation along.

"Noon. The council and I should be ready by then and your team should also be there. Be sure to bring your equipment with you, there is no telling whether you will have enough time to return home and get it."

Naruto nodded and then bowed, excusing himself. He wanted the rest of the night to mentally and physically prepare himself for what could be the most important mission he would participate in to date. It did make him a bit nervous, the thought of being with a team, as he was so used to working only with Asuma, but he knew that it was better to learn now than later.

Whoever this Kakashi was, he hoped they were strong.

The two Sarutobi watched him leave before they continued the conversation, which made Asuma privy to what would be expected of the genin. It was risky and dangerous, but with Kakashi there helping him, maybe Naruto could pull through with his life and a new rank.

As the older brother, it was time to put his faith in Naruto's abilities.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Mission Assignment Desk_

000

Kakashi was not happy with the arrangement she had been given.

Shortly after she passed her first genin team, which by all means was cause for celebration, she was told that she was requested for a new mission. Unable to refuse a request from the Hokage, she was put in charge of this so called 'chunin aptitude' test the council had devised for some special genin. Not only that, but she would not be made privy to the mission's details until the genin arrived, who was already running later than she was.

Hiruzen waited at his seat in the mission center with Koharu and Homura at his flanks. They impatiently waited with Kakashi's Team 7 for Naruto to arrive. The genin would never be late for something as important as his promotion without good reason, at least that was what the Sarutobi hoped.

A loud banging on wood signaled that the jinchuuriki was running down the hall, allowing the Hokage to breathe a sigh of relief. The door slid open to reveal a huffing blonde boy, at least a head taller than the other three genin present. It seemed Asuma had been with him until recently as he brought the pungent scent of smoke with him.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama. Asuma-sensei had an important message for me to relay that I had to attend to."

"Don't worry Naruto, now that you are here we will begin right away."

Kakashi was still gaping in surprise that the genin she was to be testing was Naruto Uzumaki, the nine tails jinchuuriki. She always knew he was a special case when it came to village politics, but the Hokage never made any inclination to her that he was planning something so bold. Although they had seen each other on occasion it was merely a passing glance, the two had yet to directly converse; she supposed that that would change today.

Her team took in their fellow genin's appearance and were shocked to see how big he was in comparison to them. Just as they would expect from an older shinobi, he was tall and had a well defined body they could see through his mesh t-shirt and open black jacket. Like their sensei he had fingerless gloves and a pair of blue pants, although they were considerably more loose. Bandages adorned his lower legs where the black sandals met pant leg, completing his outfit.

What struck them the most was his appearance; blonde hair and sun kissed skin was not exactly common. If it wasn't for his hitai-ate, his bangs would surely cover his eyes. That wasn't mentioning his unique marks on his face, although the Inuzuka had something similar.

Not only that, but there was some sort of aura that poured off of him. It wasn't exactly maturity but it definitely told them that he was on another level than just another genin. If their sensei's vague explanation added anything, it was because he was basically a chunin already.

"Now then, as I am sure you all know that this situation is not normal. That is because this situation is very..unique." Hiruzen chose his words carefully, as 'delicate' would have fit much better.

"The mission we have for you is not just for Team 7, but also this genin here. You see, this is a test to see if Naruto has the capabilities required for that of a chunin." Hiruzen was addressing Team 7 as they were clearly the least informed. "It will also be a valuable experience for all of you, and a dangerous one at that. Follow your sensei's judgment, rely on each other, and follow orders."

Each one of them nodded, still confused about the situation at large. Naruto couldn't blame them, even he did not fully understand what was going on. As far as he could tell, this situation was highly unusual.

Now that he had a moment, he could finally take in the fact that he was again in the presence of the silver haired beauty he had spotted that time not so long ago. Her name was Kakashi, an oddly fitting name he thought as he took in her appearance. When he realized she was looking at him as well, Naruto quickly looked away and focused on the Hokage.

"Now then, for the mission itself." The Sandaime revealed a mission scroll and quickly undid the seal. "It is a commission directly from the Land of Fire's government to deal with a large massing of bandits and nuke-nin. Apparently they are causing quite a lot of trouble near our border with the Land of Rivers. Considering the details of the mission, it is appropriately B-ranked."

Every one of their eyes widened upon hearing the mission's difficulty rating. Newly initiated genin being put into such a dangerous situation? Had the Hokage lost his mind?

Kakashi held her tongue for the moment but made her discomfort clear by placing one hand on her hip and narrowing her eyes on the council. There was no doubt in her mind it was part of their political scheming to set Naruto up to fail with such a difficult mission.

"Team 7, take this time to introduce yourselves to your new partner. Naruto, you as well."

Finally, it was time to meet the team he would be working with. None of them looked particularly spectacular, but Naruto had noticed that one had the Uchiha symbol on his back. Perhaps he was something of a prodigy, considering the way he acted.

The first one to say their name was the Uchiha. He had dark black hair that seemed to take a shape of its own, properly framing his face with two distinct bangs. His dark eyes pierced Naruto in what he assumed was a way of sizing him up. A blue collar high top and white shorts made up his simple outfit.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha."

_'That was simple. I guess he is a man of few words..'_

The pink haired girl was next and she bowed slightly in respect. She wore a red dress with shorts underneath which did not seem all that appropriate for a ninja. In fact, she seemed particularly cheerful and oblivious to the world around her; she had been watching the Uchiha during the entire meeting. Her fair skin must have been something to be proud of though as he had heard Kurenai complain about the new genin and their 'perfect' complexions.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. A pleasure, Naruto-san."

The last one seemed the most normal, if that were an appropriate term to use. He had simple head of brown hair that was cropped short, it seemed to compliment his tanned skin. There was a charming, even mischievous tint to his brown eyes as they too scanned Naruto for weakness. His outfit was more utilitarian than the rest; a light green jacket with pockets and long, dark pants that gave him plenty of room to carry supplies and move comfortably.

"The name is Arata Sato, nice ta meet ya." His lax tone got him a hit over the head from Sakura who told him to respect his superiors.

Naruto smiled, he had gone into his shinobi life as a loner. He had no expectations when it came to a team, so he supposed this match up was better than nothing. Even if the genin did not exist, Kakashi alone was enough to peak his interest.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I hope we get along well."

With introductions out of the way, Hiruzen took control of the conversation. He ordered Team 7 to prepare their belongings and say goodbye to their families. That allowed him to keep Kakashi and Naruto to give them a more in-depth look at the mission as well as the test itself.

Before he could though, Kakashi could not hold her tongue and immediately expressed her problems with the so-called challenge.

"Hokage-sama, although I respect your wish to properly challenge Naruto, a B-rank mission is too dangerous for my genin squad. It is something that should be assigned to a group of chunin instead."

Everyone in the room sympathized with her belief, except for maybe the council. Blame it on their experience in the war, but even genin were exposed to tough situations and were able to come out alive.

"I know what you mean Kakashi, but neither I nor the council intend for your squad to be the main participants. It is up to Naruto, with your guidance and support, to prove himself capable by completing this mission. Besides.." He hardened his face. "Your genin will not survive as shinobi if they cannot handle the rigors of real combat. Perhaps this is too much and too soon, but better they be under your care than alone and without guidance."

"Hokage-sama.." Kakashi was surprised he was taking such a tough stance, it was not like him.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but our minds have been made up on the details of this mission for some time now. Please complete it with the best of your ability." Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Naruto.

"Your objectives for this mission are as follows: investigate the bandit operations and impede their activities in whatever way you see fit. Assassinate key figures and sabotage their operation in such a way they cannot recover. Finally, discover the core root which has caused such a large amount of bandits to gather in this area. Understood?" Naruto nodded, it was much more elaborate than his past missions.

The challenge was somewhat exciting.

"As for the test, Kakashi will be, in addition to actively participating in the mission with you, grading you on not only your abilities but your tactical mind and how you react to certain situations. At any time she has the right to fail you and pull you from the mission, in which you will return to Konoha without any chance of promotion. This is to ensure that, should you somehow become a danger to the well being of her and her team, she has the ability to send you back."

That made Naruto a bit nervous but he was confident that he would still succeed. His training and the missions he undertook before that point were all leading up to this final encounter.

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

"Kakashi?" She had been quiet during the briefing, no doubt trying to figure out how she could get Team 7 out of their predicament.

Seeing none, she settled for pressing forward with obvious distaste.

"Understood, Hokage-sama." The same words as Naruto, but with a harsh undertone.

"Very well then, Naruto you are dismissed." He bowed to the Hokage and turned to Kakashi, waiting for orders.

"Meet at the west gate after making your preparations, we will leave as soon as possible."

With that, Naruto left the four shinobi alone to discuss even more about the test that went far beyond just a simple B-rank. The council had more than just Naruto at stake in what they were trying to gain, after all.

000

_Outskirts of Konohagakure_

000

Naruto leaped through the trees with Kakashi's Team 7, the jounin taking the lead. Since there was no civilian to attend to, the shinobi were free to move at full speed. It seemed that the faster they got there the better it would be, as they had yet to take a break. He would not have any problems keeping up, but there was some concern the others would not do so well.

Sweat covered Sakura's brow and Arata lagged behind. Was this their first time outside the village?

"Sakura, are you alright?"

Naruto made it so that he was close to her now, timing their jumps together. The poor girl looked at him as if she would fall any minute.

"I-I'm fine Naruto-san, don't worry."

"Are you sure? I can ask Kakashi to slow down.."

She waved his concerns off. If Sasuke could handle it then so could she.

The blonde looked up ahead and saw the jounin making great headway. He was sure they were far enough from the village they could slow down, if only a little bit. Before he could ask though, Kakashi stopped.

The team quickly regrouped with her on a large tree branch. She looked over them for a moment and was disappointed to see that they were already exhausted. Not even Sasuke could hide the sweat and occasional pant. Naruto, on the other hand, displayed stamina that was expected of him without so much batting an eye lash at their speed.

"We have made it far enough from the village that we can move at a slower pace. If you get too tired, let the group know and we will take a break. At sundown we will make camp, understood?" They chorused an affirmative before setting out again, this time at a manageable pace.

Kakashi made note of Naruto's concern for his team as well as his observation of the surroundings. Every time she would glance back to check on the others, she would find his eyes wandering. Instead of daydreaming, he was checking their vulnerable spots as well as any oddities in their route.

Sticking to the treetops had advantages other than natural cover. It was hard to have an ambush in a place that looked consistently the same. Just one oddly shaped leaf was enough to tip off an observant shinobi.

During their trip, Naruto took the time to observe his team-mates and try to discover their strengths and weaknesses. It was hard to do without seeing them in combat, but he was able to discern a few tidbits of information.

After watching their mannerisms as well as habits, Naruto had quickly decided the Uchiha was the only one that any real combat potential. Though not to the same level as Naruto, he too kept an eye on his surroundings and always had his guard up. Sakura and Arata displayed none of this and seemed to be totally focused on the path ahead, their minds elsewhere.

Naruto could surmise that her thoughts were on a particular boy in their party, but Arata was not as easy. Something about him made his skills and his personality hard to read, almost like a rogue.

What Naruto didn't realize was that the genin was thinking about their mission and the blonde jinchuuriki, whom he wanted to fight badly. There had yet to be a situation where he could truly show his skills and a challenge like the older genin seemed worthy enough.

Arata thought that because Naruto was still a genin, he was weak. He had no idea how wrong he was.

As the sun lowered on their first of many days away from home, Kakashi brought them down into a forest clearing. There, she quickly gave orders to Sakura and Arata to find firewood and for Sasuke to help Naruto set up the camp. In the meantime, she would keep watch.

After setting up the bedrolls for the team, Naruto and Sasuke created a fire pit. As they waited for the other two to return, Naruto caught Kakashi sitting in one of the trees nearby. Rather than watching for enemies or wild animals, she was reading some kind of book. His eyes told him it was of the Icha Icha series, something he never thought he would find in her hands.

_'I wonder what Kakashi sees in those kinds of adult novels..'_

Sakura and Arata shortly returned with bundles of wood in their hands. With Sasuke's help they quickly lit a fire as day turned to night. There was not much to say among one another, which made Naruto wonder if any of them were actually close friends from the academy. Kakashi remained in her treetop perch, leaving him alone with the young ones.

"So Naruto, how old are you?" Arata suddenly asked, curious about their new team-mate.

Glad that someone broke the silence, Naruto sat with his legs crossed as he told them a bit about himself. Since they had never met him before, he was able to keep their attention. They were amazed to learn he had been going on missions for many years now and inevitably it led to them asking about his skills.

"Not sure it is my place to say. I am being considered for chunin rank though, that should tell you something." Arata and Sasuke weren't satisfied with that, they wanted more information.

"You have to have a specialty though. Something you are really good at!" The brunette asked, his cocky smile belied his curiosity.

"I'm not really sure, I suppose it would be ninjutsu since I discovered my nature affinity. Still, I have had training with genjutsu and taijutsu too. You might call me a jack of all trades." His vague description kept them guessing, but it was enough to quiet them down.

It was not long after that that Kakashi reappeared in their midst, casting a sharp eye over her charges. She had been trying to come up with a proper plan with the information she had been given. The stakes of their mission were high, even without Naruto's promotion on the line. If she had to, she was willing to fail him just for the sake of the team returning safely.

Her hope was that something like that would be unnecessary, but it never hurt to have a contingency.

"It is time to get some rest. Who wants to take first watch?" As if he had been waiting the entire night for it, Naruto stood up and volunteered.

"I'll do it."

Arata raised his hand and volunteered to take the next one.

With that done, the jounin promptly retired while leaving Naruto in charge. The blonde ran up a tree, demonstrating his chakra control to the others, to find a proper place to stand guard. That left the three genin left around the fire with nothing to do, as none of them were particularly tired. Their conversation continued, it was too much for them to think of another subject.

"So what do you think about this mission, Sasuke?" Arata asked his fellow, only to receive a grunt.

"Not what I was expecting, but I appreciate the challenge." Sakura looked at her crush and frowned, he seemed to forget the point of them being there.

"Sasuke-kun, this is a test for Naruto-san. I don't think we are supposed to do very much.." She feigned sadness but in reality she was glad to stay out of the fight.

To think they would be going up against real opponents so soon after academy, it was more than a little scary. She could not believe that her two team-mates were as calm as they were. Could they really handle a nuke-nin on their own? From what the Hokage said, their mission would not be involving just simple bandits.

The Uchiha looked at Sakura and glared. He was annoyed she was so content to sit back when it was finally a chance for them to shine. Why was he stuck with such a coward? Arata was not much better, but there was something about him that put Sasuke off. It was like he was hiding something, his real strength.

_'Maybe this mission will be my opportunity to see what is so special about him.'_

Arata was looking at Naruto, wondering what was so special about him that he got to be a chunin candidate. Even if he was older and had more experience, he was still a genin like them. That told him that there was something holding the blonde back, whether it be skill or something else. That was why he wanted to fight Naruto, to learn more about him.

"I'm going to go talk to him." The boy said out loud before jumping up into the trees, leaving those two alone.

Before Sakura even had a chance to revel in the moment, Sasuke rolled over in his bedroll and promptly fell asleep. Left alone, the pink haired girl had no choice but to sleep as well.

Before Arata even made it onto the same branch, Naruto was already watching him come up. He was clearly taking the watch more seriously than their sensei.

"What's the matter?" Naruto asked plainly, not welcoming the interruption.

"I wanted to talk to you. You seemed uncomfortable during the team meeting so I figured you volunteered to get away. What is the problem?" Naruto was surprised Arata picked up on his discomfort, he was trying to hide it for the sake of the mission.

At first he tried to play it off as nothing, to test the boy's observation.

"I like the quiet and I wanted to show Kakashi that I was willing to be a part of the team. Nothing special." Arata made himself at home, squatting down on the branch.

He shook his head, not believing the story. Arata's childhood gave him a knack for reading people and he could see through the obvious lie.

"I think its more than that. Even if you were nice to Sakura by asking if she was alright during the run, there was a lot of hesitation. You don't seem comfortable when you are a part of a team."

So he saw through Naruto after all. If he could, there was no doubt Kakashi could as well. He was sure she would make a mental note to mark him off for that, he thought in annoyance.

"I was never on a genin team of my own, so I'm a bit uncomfortable in this new environment. I've been so used to working as a duo with Asuma-sensei that I feel like I am out of my element." Arata understood that feeling, new situations were always hard to adapt to at first.

"Funny you say that, I was the same way when we were assigned to Team 7." That got Naruto's attention. "You see, Kakashi had to give us a test to see if we could stay as genin or get sent back to the academy. It was a team building exercise, but we didn't know that. We had to get a bell from her by lunch or else we would fail, so everyone decided to go off on their own. She picked us off easily." The genin remembered the test with a frown, clearly unhappy with his performance.

"After my first failure I caught onto the point of the test and decided I would use those two to win. I was able to convince them that we needed to work together, it worked so well they did not even question my reasons. You see, I was going to take a bell for myself and leave them to fend for themselves." That sounded a bit cruel when Naruto thought about it, but when he compared it to a real mission, it made a bit more sense.

"They distracted Kakashi while I made my move. The plan was going to go off without a hitch, I could easily grab one and retreat before the bell rang. But Kakashi saw through my plan and captured those two, forcing me to choose. It was then I realized that, as a team, you either succeed together or fail together. There were only two bells and I knew that even if I won, in the end I would lose anyway. So I chose to try and save them, and that is how we won."

Kakashi was not testing them on their combat ability, she was testing them on their ability to work together. More than that, she was putting their morals on display for her to judge. Arata almost failed, but because he saw through the test, he was able to make the right decision barring his own moral code. That might have caught Kakashi off guard, she probably expected him to take a bell anyway.

"That was a risky move, to change your objective in the middle of the fight. It was also impressive." Arata just shook his head to Naruto's praise.

"No, I wasn't that amazing. If anything the test just showed I was good at manipulating people to make up for my own shortcomings. But it did teach me something: the ultimate weapon is not an object, but other people. A good team can complete any mission, but it is only a good team if everyone understands what Kakashi was trying to teach. Maybe my explanation wasn't so good, but hopefully it helped." The serious atmosphere lifted as Arata scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

Naruto smiled, it had helped him. Suddenly he felt a lot more comfortable being a part of this team. His appreciation for them increased when he realized how they were going to help him become a chunin after all.

"Thanks, it did help. You better get some rest though, we won't actually be near the Land of Rivers for another day or so. That means-"

"More running, great." Arata's discomfort during the run wasn't faking, he really did not have the stamina for it.

With a playful salute the younger of them dropped back down to camp to return to his bedroll. He didn't notice the shadow that hugged Naruto's tree trunk. Nor did he realize that Kakashi was out of her bed.

She had listened to the entire conversation, a smile growing under her mask. Kakashi wasn't expecting Arata to help Naruto much, so she was pleasantly surprised to hear that dialogue. Perhaps the mission would go better than she was expecting.

000

_A couple of days later.._

_Land of Fire/Land of Rivers Border_

000

"Stop here!" Kakashi ordered them down into a clearing just a bit off from the main road.

They were fast approaching the location of the supposed bandit camp. The team had been moving at a fair pace the entire morning to arrive at where they were now, and she knew there would be a fight ahead. Besides, there was something she needed to go over with Naruto.

"Take a break and prepare your weapons, we will begin the mission soon." The three genin scattered a bit to make their own preparations while Kakashi waved the blonde over.

He watched as she reached behind her back to fish something out of her pack. Her arm returned with a scroll in hand, it was their mission orders from Konoha. Naruto had read that team leaders often entrusted them with their second in command before the mission started, in case they fell in battle.

That gave him an unsettled stomach to think that Kakashi might die. He knew it was possible but still, the possibility just seemed so low there was no point in contemplating it.

"Take this Naruto. In case we are separated or something happens to me, follow the instructions inside." Naruto took it without arguing, storing it in his waist pouch.

"There is a village not too far from here. We will investigate and see if we can find out where the bandits are." Kakashi didn't want to rush into anything so she stuck with a cautious approach.

The genin fell in behind her as they continued forward through the trees. A bit of mist was covering the area, giving the start of their mission an eerie tone. Not long after leaving their rest spot, they came across a small village nestled into the surrounding forest. Even with their distance, they could hear sounds of conflict.

Careful not to make too much of a fuss, Naruto and the others remained in the trees while Kakashi dashed across the rooftops to get a better look. She quickly returned to them with news that a small group of bandits were in town causing trouble. With no time to spare, the five shinobi made their way to the market district where the altercation was taking place.

000

"Give us what you owe, old man." A scraggly bandit ordered, holding up a dagger to some graying merchant.

They had been in that area for the past month or so and had begun gathering so-called protection money. All it was was extortion of the populace, their distance from Tani and Konoha made it difficult for them to get any help. The bandits knew it too, that was why they preyed on the border towns.

"Not this time. We won't be pushed around by the likes of you!" The robes he wore made the middle aged man look like he was wealthy, no doubt why they were hassling him.

With the snap of his fingers, the other two bandits wrestled the merchant's arms behind his back. A toothy grin spread across his face as he approached, flicking the dagger between his hands and fingers. A few of the townspeople were watching from their homes, it was a perfect time to make an example.

"I'm gonna carve you up pal, you picked the wrong group to mess with." Before he could get any closer, someone appeared behind him.

The bandits holding the old man tried to warn their partner, but could do nothing but gape as blood soon covered the dirt road. Naruto twirled the kunai around in his hand before throwing it faster than the thugs could track. It impaled one right between the eyes, sending more blood flying and a body to the floor. The last one was quickly apprehended by Kakashi who wanted to ensure they had someone left to interrogate.

The three genin appeared shortly after the hostilities ended, surprised at how fast it was over. They were also taken aback at how coolly Naruto handled the bandits, it was like he didn't even hesitate to kill them. In a way, it was frightening.

"Thank you very much, Konoha-san."

The rescued man bowed before quickly excusing himself, he wanted to get as far away from the coming battle as possible.

It didn't take much before Kakashi had gotten the information she desired out of their prisoner. They left him for the town to handle on their own as they had bigger problems. Apparently the band of renegades was led by a man named Noroi, a man that did not hail from a village but knew ninjutsu of some kind. Apparently it was particularly vile in nature as even his men were afraid of him.

The group of shinobi set out for the border where the camp was. A river with forest on either side signified the border between Fire and River, with the bandit camp being inside of the other country. It was something that should have been handled by Tani shinobi, but apparently they were not aware of the gravity of the situation. There was also the possibility they were involved, or were too weak to properly handle whoever Noroi and his men were.

Either way, it was up to Kakashi and Naruto to figure out how best to complete their mission. Without any information on Noroi's group or his abilities, they would remain in the dark. That was why they were having to do something so bold as direct reconnaissance.

"It won't be long now, keep your eyes open for enemies." Kakashi warned as they ran through the forest floor, the tree branches too high to access.

Naruto was uncomfortable and it showed in his posture. The entire mission had been off since they made it to town; the people did not cooperate with their questions, the lowly thug captured without anything to keep him from talking, and now they were out in the open. He knew Kakashi wouldn't purposely leave them vulnerable, but if they kept going like that then they would be discovered.

Any smart leader would have some sort of sentry, and Naruto could already see the river. If he could see that, then surely the bandits could see them.

The tense atmosphere was palpable enough to cut with a knife. When Kakashi suddenly held up a fist to stop, he knew that it was already too late. That was when he sensed something on the team's flank and began going through hand signs.

"**Fūton: Daitoppa**!" A gust of wind launched from Naruto's palms, deflecting the projectiles that threatened the genin in the rear.

Kakashi's attention turned to above them as at least a dozen of their enemies fell upon them from the trees, waiting in ambush. Among them was a bald man with a dark overcoat on, it somewhat reminded her of a doctor's lab coat but twisted.

_'Just like they said, Kakashi and her brats have arrived..'_

"Get 'em boys, take the leader alive. The rest don't matter!"

Kakashi readied a weapon as did the rest of them. Naruto prepared two kunai while the rest readied one in their hands. Sakura's body visibly shook with fear, and Sasuke's legs almost buckled.

"Team 7, triangle formation! Naruto, look after them while I handle the leader."

The three genin got back to back while Naruto stayed nearby, even though he wanted so badly to charge into battle with Kakashi. He knew they would not stand a chance without him nearby and so he remained.

Most of the bandits came after Naruto, leaving Kakashi for Noroi to fight.

When they were just a few feet away from Naruto, he disappeared into a blur. Before the bandits even knew what was happening, he had already torn through their ranks with his weapons. Blood and bodies fell as the rest recovered, attacking Naruto with their blades, axes, and sickles. Using his speed to his advantage, the blonde kept them back and was able to outmaneuver them.

While he distracted them, Arata came up with the idea to become long range support. He stayed in formation but began to throw kunai and shuriken into the bandit group. What surprised them the most was that the weapons seemed to have a mind of their own, similar to Naruto's wind technique.

_'How does a genin like him know how to do something like that?'_ Naruto didn't understand it either as the bandits were forced to scatter.

He didn't even go through any hand signs or focus any chakra, Arata made it look easy. Another group came at them from a different direction, forcing Naruto's attention elsewhere. To make room in his hands he put away the two kunai before going through more hand signs.

"Arata, throw more shuriken!" Naruto ordered, surprising the boy.

He, along with the help of Sakura, threw a handful of projectiles at the incoming bandits. Using a technique he had learned from the Third, Naruto exponentially increased their numbers.

"**Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

The flurry of metal became a barrage of steel as the weapons impacted, slaughtering the attackers. There was little time to rest as even more came out of the forest from hiding places, they seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

Naruto clashed blades with the nearest one and realized that if they stayed for much longer, the genin would be overwhelmed. Already their triangle formation was scattered as each one fought for their lives.

_'Kakashi, where are you?!'_

000

"**Raikiri!**"

Kakashi launched forward with the intent to run the enemy leader through. When she impaled him, he sunk into the ground as some sort of dark liquid. She panted as Noroi's body reformed behind her, some distance away. He was playing with her, trying to make her lose energy. Their fight had slowly gotten farther and farther away from her team, but she could still hear the sounds of battle.

_'That means they are still alive, I need to end this quick!'_

"Just give it up Kakashi. You _will_ be mine." The pale skinned man promised, licking his lips over some dominating fetish.

"I don't think so." She rebuked, disappearing into the ground before launching back out from underneath his feet.

The enemy ninja slid away, hands still in his overcoat's pockets. This battle was like a joke to him. It was as if he already knew the outcome.

Kakashi launched forward with a kunai and tried to engage in taijutsu, but he weaved in and out of each of her attacks. A long, dark object launched from his chest and tried to bite her, but she was able to dodge. It was then that she finally got a look at his technique and how hideous it really was.

"Ah, that usually works. Apologies, its been a while since I was a doctor." A multitude of black snakes emerged from his body, each one with a mind of its own.

They launched toward Kakashi in an attempt to subdue her, but she was faster. With a flash their heads were removed from their bodies and a teal blue liquid leaked onto the ground from their remains. If her suspicions were right, it was some sort of physical substance with chakra imbued inside.

"Don't you know Kakashi? More heads will grow if you cut one off." Just as he promised, the amount of snakes on the battlefield multiplied and she slowly found herself overwhelmed.

There was only one choice; retreat. She released a few smoke bombs and turned on her heel back toward the rest of her team. Her only hope was that Naruto and the others were still alive.

Noroi smirked, all according to plan. Slowly he sunk into the ground with his snakes, leaving only a puddle of dark residue behind.

000

"AHHHH!" Sakura screamed as one of the bandits swung his blade, too fast and strong for her to block.

He was elbowed in the face before his attack could connect, the power behind the attack sent him flying. Naruto's speed again saved her for what felt like the hundredth time, but how long could he keep it up? Their genin leader was visibly exhausted as he roamed the battlefield, saving each one of them before they could be killed.

It had been over ten minutes since Kakashi was out of sight and they feared the worst. Naruto again ordered them into the triangle formation with a small lull in the fight. Even as the bodies kept piling up, the bandits kept coming. There must have been hundreds of them working for Noroi and he seemed quite willing to use all of them to accomplish his mission.

They were going all out to kill them and capture Kakashi, but the question was why? It was as if they already knew everything about the mission at hand. What could a group of bandits possibly gain with just one jounin. From the way their leader acted, it seemed to be out of greed rather than profit. The thought alone disgusted Naruto.

Just as another attack was being readied, Kakashi appeared before them. Other than being somewhat out of breath, she didn't look like she was harmed. Except for a few scratches and bruises, the genin were the same.

"You all made it, thank goodness." She panted, looking over her shoulder.

Noroi was close and that meant she had little time. More bandits were also coming which meant that they would have a lot of problems escaping. Naruto was strong, but he was not _that_ strong; there was no way they could tag team the rest of the bandits.

"Naruto, get everyone out of here. I'm going to hold them off while you get away." Everyone was taken by surprise, she was going to stay behind.

"But Kakashi-" Naruto made to protest, he couldn't just leave her behind.

The jounin was having none of it as she harshly cut him off. It was their only chance.

"Follow your orders Naruto! Get your team to safety or else this mission will be over!" Noroi appeared with his men, forcing Kakashi to turn around and face her attackers.

"Team 7, follow Naruto's orders from now on. Go!" She gathered lightning chakra in her hands and activated her sharingan, intimidating some of the enemies.

Naruto didn't like it, but he knew that they could not win the fight. If they all died there then their deaths would accomplish nothing.

"Let's go!" Naruto shouted, running in the opposite direction.

Team 7 hesitated for a moment before following, Arata casting a lingering glance at their teacher. Was this really how it would end, he thought with disgust.

No matter how much it hurt him, Naruto refused to look back. To be a chunin and a member of a team, he had to accept that sacrifice was inevitable.

Still, that rationale didn't stop the tears from streaming down his face.

000

Kakashi dropped to the ground, unable to move. One of Noroi's snakes had successfully bitten her and injected their chakra, effectively paralyzing her. With some finesse he wrapped her tightly in the creatures to carry back to his camp, his eyes unable to look away from his prize.

"Sir, what are your orders?" One of the bandits asked as they collected the bodies of their fallen.

The genin had gotten away, Kakashi's distraction had worked. They could have been halfway to Konoha with the speed they were moving, no chance they could be traced. Stirred from his daydream, Noroi glared at his subordinate before spitting in their direction.

"Forget 'em. We got our end of the bargain, let's move out."

The bandits fell in step as their leader brought them across the border and back into camp. To Kakashi it was almost unbelievable to see so many bandits living in one place. Tents and simple wooden structures littered a man-made clearing where the bandits seemed to resemble an army. They walked through the camp, getting plenty of interested looks at the sight of the defeated shinobi.

Kakashi was thrown to the ground in front of a set of dirty jail cells, one of the snakes injecting her with another dose of the vile chakra. Her face contorted in pain, but she was unable to say anything or move a muscle. Two female bandits arrived with rags and shackles, Noroi told them to make her into a proper slave.

She was quickly stripped of her clothing and put in a set of rags that barely covered anything, let alone leave her decent. With some sick humor, they left her with her face mask as if to mock the fallen jounin.

They quickly placed the heavy, rusted shackles onto her wrists and ankles. With their weight and strength, it would be difficult to move or escape. Expecting that to be all, she was surprised when they revealed a ninja scroll.

Using the contents of the scroll, they placed two seals on her body. One prevented her from accessing her chakra, the other sealed her sharingan. Her suspicions were correct that this was no normal group of bandits, they had connections with someone in the Five Great Villages. Only they would know how to properly subdue a shinobi with such seals.

"Lucky you, Noroi says you are going to be his favorite pet." One of them mocked her as they unlocked the cell door, the other close by in case Kakashi tried anything.

Her voice had still not returned so they didn't bother playing with her much. With a bit of force they pushed her into the muddy ground, leaving her to pick herself up. Kakashi did her best to right herself and felt the rags begin to soak with the disgusting brown water.

_'I can't believe I agreed to this..'_ Kakashi thought with disgust; although getting caught so early wasn't part of their plan, it would hopefully be worth it.

_'To properly get information, Hokage-sama wanted to make sure I was close to the bandits. It isn't the best situation, but shinobi rarely get a choice.'_

Now she waited until the interrogation started or until Noroi took his new 'plaything' out. Even in her situation, she did not plan to appease the bandits with information or any other _service_. As soon as she got the information she needed or had the opportunity to escape, she would take it.

What Kakashi was really worried about was Naruto and her team. Had they really escaped successfully? Would they make it back to Konoha without any problems? Losing her must have been a blow to morale, but she couldn't reveal her plans to any of them; they surely would have tried to talk her out of it and Naruto probably would have stayed behind with her.

The two bandits returned after a short while, it seemed they were not ones to wait around. They picked her up and brought her to the interrogation building, a simple wooden shack with a single chair in the middle.

"Have fun. After this, Noroi wants to have some quality time with you." The raven haired bandit winked with a vicious smile, there was nothing good that could come from that.

But she had to bide her time, with luck they would slip up and give her the opportunity she needed. Kakashi Hatake might have been captured, but she was not defeated.

000

Meanwhile, many miles away in the Land of Fire, Naruto and his team had made camp as the sun set. They were quiet, with the small fire crackling serving as the only source of sound. The thought of their sensei being left behind was too much to bear.

Arata looked over to Naruto who said he would stay on watch, but in reality he was just as shell shocked as the rest. He leaned against the trunk of a tree, looking off into space. Slowly, he slid himself down to the ground, dropping the scroll in his hand haphazardly to the ground. Classified document or not, the mission orders he received were too outrageous for him to think clearly.

_In the event that any team member is captured, the mission should be immediately aborted. The remaining members should immediately return to Konoha and not make any attempts of rescuing their team-mate. _

_The nature of the mission and the enemies prevents this from being a successful venture and would only waste more lives._

He was just supposed to leave Kakashi behind? Were they crazy? That wasn't what a team was, Kakashi said so herself. How could she just give them that kind of order? They must have known he would refuse.

"Sensei.." Sakura quietly sobbed, fearing for Kakashi's well being.

Sasuke was enraged that they had been forced to retreat. They were just getting started and then they ran away. He wanted another go at them. Judging from Arata's tense demeanor, he shared the same feelings.

The two went over to Naruto to voice their opinion, leaving Sakura alone for a moment. There was no way Team 7 could take this lying down. The first real mission they all go on and they lose their sensei without a fight? It just made no sense.

Naruto didn't even see them as they came forward, still lost in his own thoughts. His arms rested on his bunched up knees, even in the uncomfortable position he had not even shifted once since reading the message.

"So, what do we do now?" Naruto snapped out of it for a moment to respond, his voice lacking emotion.

He felt that it would match the tone of the order.

"We are to leave Kakashi behind and return to Konoha at once." That made the Uchiha and Sato bawl their fists in anger, unable to believe it.

"That can't be..we can't leave her behind!" Arata shouted, bringing Sakura and Naruto's attention to him.

"Those bandits need to pay for what they did. We can take the fight to them." Sasuke slammed his fist into his palm, displaying his will to fight.

"We don't have a leader, our jounin is gone. How are we supposed to come up with a strategy?" Naruto asked no one in particular, his strength was suddenly sapped.

A soft voice squeaked out from behind Sasuke and Arata, making them turn around to see Sakura. With a certain amount of determination, she spoke up.

"Naruto-san..you have the most experience out of all of us here. If it weren't for you, we all would have died. If anyone can come up with a plan, it's you."

Their eyes focused on the older genin as he came out of the defeated trance. Sakura's words reinvigorated him enough to stand up and look over his squad. It wouldn't be easy, but damned if he was going to follow those orders and leave Kakashi behind. There was no way she would do that if one of them were captured, so the same went for her.

"Alright, but I'm going to need to know what all of you can do. To win, we are going to have to work as a real team."

They nodded in understanding as Naruto rested his eyes on Arata. The technique he used earlier, it was time to come clean. There was no wire, no hand signs; Naruto had played the move over and over in his mind and still could not figure it out.

"Arata, how did you-" The cocky kid smiled, figuring he knew what Naruto was talking about.

"I guess I should tell you about my.._ability_. Who knows? It may even come in handy."

Around the campfire the genin came up with a plan to save Kakashi and complete their mission. The bandits had messed with the wrong team. Underestimating Naruto was not what sealed their fate, it was leaving them together.

As long as there was a team, there was a chance.

000

Ah cliffhangers, gotta love 'em. Naruto learns an important lesson of teamwork from someone he had never met before, and uses it to help complete his mission. Will they save Kakashi in time? Or will she escape on her own?

What is Noroi's connection with the ninja villages and who betrayed Team 7? Find out next time.

Be sure to leave a review to tell me about the chapter and what you thought.


	4. Just Desserts

Naruto: The Return of Darkness

Chapter 3

Just Desserts

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"Speaking"

"_Whisper"_

_'Thinking'_

_Writing/Text_

"**Jutsu**"

"**Tailed Beast/Demonic speak"**

Welcome to the third chapter of my NarufemKaka story, _The Rise of Darkness_. We will now see the rest of the Rise of a Shinobi arc with the B-rank's resolution as well as build up for the Chunin Exam arc which is coming up next.

Lots of questions were going around with the outcome of the last chapter so now it is time to put them to rest.

Read on and enjoy.

000

_Land of Rivers_

_Bandit Camp_

000

The jailors left Kakashi with her interrogators, a man and woman. Both had once hailed from Konoha judging from their crossed out hitai-ate, but Kakashi did not recognize them. They were both older than her and must have defected before she rose up the ranks in Konoha. How far they must have fallen to work for someone like Noroi.

"Welcome Kakashi, we are going to have plenty of fun." The man smiled, leading her over to the chair where she was forced to sit.

Kakashi said nothing, she was not going to give up anything of use. Her years in the ANBU gave her first-hand experience with torture, both on giving and receiving it. There was nothing either of them could do to her that she did not already know how to counter. That meant they would have to try something unorthodox if they knew anything about her.

That was why the jab to her stomach surprised her. It forced Kakashi to double over and instinctively cover herself, but not for long. The woman with orange hair had punched her, clearly impatient to begin. With little finesse she grabbed Kakashi's hair and made her look up into their faces.

"Oi, was that really necessary?" The man asked as he adjusted his dark bangs out of his eyes.

There was no need to rush, Kakashi was all alone. Konoha abandoned her from the start. Her only hope now was to accept her place as a slave and talk. They could warm up to that though, without violence. Apparently his partner had a different idea.

"The brat was in ANBU, only pain will get through to her." As if to prove her point, she pulled harder on the silver hair.

Kakashi grunted in pain but continued to stay silent. When her interrogator finally let go, the jounin kept looking at the ground. She would try to avoid eye contact as much as possible, in case they attempted a mind reading technique.

"Have you already forgotten that I was as well?" The woman backed off so that he could show off whatever skills he was bragging about.

Coughing into his hand he tried to get Kakashi's attention. No luck, he thought with a grimace. He knelt down so that they would be on about the same level, having to again adjust the long hair out of his eyes. His demeanor remained laid back, as if he hoped it would loosen Kakashi up.

"Kakashi, we know a lot about you. There are just a few things we have to clear up, then you can go."

When she said nothing, he pressed forward. When he was in ANBU, which was admittedly a long time ago, they taught ways to resist most information gathering techniques. That left them with only a few methods to gather the information Noroi desired.

They could aggressively attack her mind, ripping the information they wanted from her brain. It would work but not effectively with her defenses, and the information may be jumbled and useless. Not only that, but it would leave her in a catatonic state or, even worse, kill her. That was something Noroi did not want.

Another option was as his partner so aptly demonstrated, beating the information out of her. Pain always made people talk, but whether it was truth or not was up for grabs. Some would say anything to stop the brutality while others would remain silent until the end.

No, their only chance was to inflict a different kind of pain. They had to play on her emotions to get what they desired. Normally it would not work if Kakashi was still in ANBU, as team members don't develop relationships with one another and their personal information was classified. Kakashi had returned to the regular forces however, and that meant her information could be obtained.

In fact, they had been memorizing it up until she arrived at the door.

He grabbed her chin to make her look up into his eyes, although she quickly averted her gaze. Smiling, he had come up with a few different 'paths' they could take their prisoner down to get her to talk. How about they started with the most fun?

"How about we bring up your first love..Obito was his name?" A slight hint of recognition, her eye widened a bit.

"You two were in a squad together, under the then jounin Minato Namikaze. The other one was also a girl, Rin Nohara. All four of you participated in the Third Shinobi War, the Kusagakure campaign."

His partner paced behind him, waiting for her moment to leap in. To properly dig into the girl's psyche they would have to use different amounts of pressure on her. He would keep Kakashi's mind focused and moving while she would be the one to play with Kakashi's emotions.

"Even straight out of the academy you fell for him, didn't you? His boyish, idiotic charm was something that just gave you _butterflies_." The woman interrogator said in an accusing, albeit suggestive tone.

Kakashi kept up her resistance, but they were right. She had liked Obito since they met; polar opposites, he frustrated her just as much as he impressed her. Something about him and his presence made her feel comfortable, like she could just let her guard down and relax. No one had made her feel like that since her father's death.

"But he liked someone else didn't he? Obito liked Rin. What could she possibly have that you didn't? You were a chunin by age six and made jounin before some kids even made it out of academy." The male tried playing on her side, but she saw through it.

"You kept your feelings hidden while he went after Rin. She didn't even bother to help you win his heart!"

_'She's wrong..Rin had no idea I liked him. No one did.'_

Kakashi was good at hiding behind a mask, she always had been.

"Then, before you could confess, Obito died on a mission in Kusa. He left you and Rin alone, your feelings unrequited."

_'That was when I realized that no matter what my rank was or how strong I became, I couldn't protect anyone with these hands of mine.'_ Obito's death made her eyes water just to remember it; having to leave him behind was the hardest thing she ever had to do.

Even to that day, she regretted it. Sometimes..Kakashi even wished she died with him.

The ex-ANBU let her chin go before he too began to pace around her. They had finally caught her, now they needed to bring it full circle.

"Tell us Kakashi, why did Obito and Rin have to die? You were strong, even back then. What happened?"

"You were weak weren't you? You couldn't show your feelings, you couldn't even protect yourself. Minato-_sensei_ had to run and save you in the end."

Kakashi knew what they were doing and she knew it shouldn't affect her, but it did. She had tried so hard to put away her emotions and make amends with Obito and Rin's deaths. Her mind wouldn't let her rest though, the harsh memories only served to remind her of her failures. Even her sensei's death could have been blamed on her, the jounin bitterly conceded.

_'If I had just been a little older, a little stronger..I could have protected the village with you, Minato-sensei. It was my fault Rin and Obito died and I couldn't even help you. I was useless as a student.'_

"Now that you remember why you were weak back then, let us remind you why you are weak now." His partner went through hand signs while he continued to talk to Kakashi. "We caught your team. They are with Noroi right now becoming a part of one of his..experiments." He revealed, a bit disgusted to have to admit it.

As if on cue, screams echoed outside the hut. Kakashi looked up in surprise, how could that be? She saw them get away, heard the bandits admit to losing them. There was no way Naruto would fail..

"That blonde one was the hardest to capture, but he gave up when we threatened to kill the rest. He even volunteered to be the first one taken in to see Noroi." The screams intensified and she felt the interrogator's breath on her ear.

"_That's him. Screaming for you to save him."_

On instinct she tried to stand up only for her to be violently shoved back down. Her eyes pleaded with him to let her go, to see her students. He frowned apologetically.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, none of us agree with what Noroi does, but he is too strong. We can't free your students..but_ you_ can."

"_KAKASHI!"_ Naruto's voice seemed to be everywhere at once, begging her.

Seeing her slump in the chair made the interrogators sense her defeat. Finally, they could get something out of her. With an unseen signal they communicated with one another and the woman quit the technique. It worked better than he had expected.

"Now then Kakashi, all we need from you is this: where does the Hokage keep the Scroll of Seals as well as the rest of the village's kinjutsu. We also know the guard patrols but we need up-to-date times as well as profiles on all the village's current jounin. Give us that and your students can go free."

Kakashi looked up into his eyes, seemingly defeated. He had brought his face close to hers in order to form an understanding: give us what we want, we give you what you want. There was just one thing wrong with their plan, she mused.

"So what do you say Kaka-" Before he could finish that sentence she slammed her forehead into his face.

The hit sent him reeling back, blood flowing from his nose. As he screamed in pain his partner revealed a kunai and held it to Kakashi's throat, forcing her to stop struggling.

"You bitch.."

"There was something you forgot in your little genjutsu.." They were taken by surprise when she revealed she saw through the technique. "Naruto isn't the type to scream for help or get captured..he wouldn't stop fighting until you were all dead, the same goes for my team."

"The only reason they ran the last time..was because _I_ am the only thing they are afraid of here. Both of you.." She looked between them, they were really were a pitiful bunch. "..are nothing but weaklings even the village couldn't find a use for."

Tired of her insults and tired of being patient, the interrogators decided to go with plan B. He swung a shot for Kakashi's face that sent her down to the floor. Before she could even right herself the other woman kicked her in the stomach. They forced her back into the chair by the length of her hair and, while his partner held her steady, he laid punch after punch on her left cheek and stomach.

Before it could go any further, the two were interrupted by the door opening. The two women bandits had returned for Kakashi and were appalled at what they saw; a bruising Kakashi and two furious interrogators. They quickly pushed the two nuke-nin away and got the woman outside.

"Noroi won't be happy when he sees the bruises, better prepare for punishment." One of them said with a threatening tone, shutting the door.

Kakashi was shuffled to the largest tent in the compound to see the bandit leader. She could barely see as night had fallen and her face had become very sore from the beating. The two slave masters had looked her over and were not happy because Noroi would not be happy. The Konoha jounin was supposed to be his prize and now she looked half dead.

"You make sure to tell him it was the interrogators, not us."

The raven haired one warned with the brunette nodding in agreement. It was their duty to keep the slaves in good condition and if anything happened, the blame was generally placed on them. The last thing they wanted was to endure Noroi's so-called 'remedial surgery' that was used to teach certain members of their group a lesson.

There were more lasting effects than just pain, they heard.

"If we get punished, so will you."

One parted the tent opening and the other led Kakashi in to see Noroi relaxing in his chair, a gem-encrusted throne stolen from a daimyo caravan. Retiring his black coat for something more casual, the man had chosen a red silk robe to lounge in while he waited for his pet to arrive. When he saw them enter he smiled but quickly frowned when he saw Kakashi' condition.

"What the **hell** happened?!" He stood up with his fists bawled in fury.

The two servants seemed to shrink behind Kakashi. They had seen him angry before but this was different. It was almost as if someone had broken his most prized possession.

"The interrogators got..a little aggressive." The brunette squeaked out.

Noroi glared at the both of them, his eyes promising death should they remain. They quickly left with orders to apprehend the two interrogators; they would receive their surgery when he was done with Kakashi.

He took a few deep breaths before settling his eyes on the beautiful prize he had received. No woman could beat her raw beauty that was only amplified by the power that flowed through her veins. The dirt and rags that covered her body could not even detract from that beauty.

"Rest assured my pet, they will be properly punished. Now then, you must be tired."

Noroi led her past his throne and to the bedroom where a very large and lavish bed awaited them. Since her capture he had been playing that moment over and over in his head. He was just too excited as more black snakes appeared from his body, taking the rags from Kakashi's body and effortlessly lifting her onto the bed.

When he joined her at the foot of the mattress, he could see her entire body waiting for him. Her eye seemed to have lost all the fight she initially had, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. That was when he knew that there was nothing left in the way of resistance, other than her shackles.

_'Stupid things, you are in the way..'_

With a flick of the wrist her ankle bonds came undone to let him come closer. His snakes began to pry the red robe from his shoulders as Kakashi stirred in the bed, moaning. They had not even started and she was that excited? Noroi could barely hold himself back.

"Don't worry Kakashi, I will take good care of you. They were too rough, you need a delicate touch. That is something I still have from my time as a doctor, I assure you." His polite speech seemed to soothe her as she relaxed her body, inviting him closer.

Before he could enter her though, Kakashi's eye opened and locked onto him. She reeled her legs back and, with power he had no idea she still had, sent him flying back into the wooden log that held the tent up. The power behind the attack was enough to shatter the wood, sending splinters into Noroi's back.

He screamed in anger from the betrayal, but was momentarily stunned.

As the tent began to topple, Kakashi crouched and observed her surroundings. All around the circular tent was Noroi's most prized artifacts he had stolen or collected. Diamonds, regal furniture, and elaborate clothing and robes.

There! Her possessions lay idle near his dresser, even her equipment pouches had been left untouched. She made a run for them even as the tent fell on top of her. If she could grab her her lock pick then the wrist binds wouldn't last long either.

When she felt something curl around her leg, she knew her plan was shot. Kakashi looked down to see one of the black snakes had traveled underground and burst through right next to her foot, its bite already feeding anesthetic chakra into her body. Already feeling lightheaded she fell over in a heap, her equipment just a few feet away.

_'So close..'_

Noroi ripped the tent apart and saw Kakashi lying on the ground, naked. She was so close to her possessions that he might have actually had to fight her had his snake not reached her in time. His back was bleeding profusely and he felt a few ribs had cracked from the power behind her attack. If anything her resistance served to remind him why he treasured her so, she was as dangerous as she was beautiful.

"That was beautifully done Kakashi.." He complimented her through gritted teeth, approaching her.

All around bandits gathered to ascertain the situation of their leader. When they saw both he and Kakashi were naked, they were taken aback by two things. The males were ensnared by Kakashi's beauty, but the women were unable to tear their eyes away from the dark tattoos that littered Noroi's entire body.

They had never seen anything like them, the demons they illustrated felt like they might come alive if anyone stared too long. A snake covered Kakashi in the tarp while Noroi ordered everyone away and for his slave masters to come forward. They quickly bound Kakashi and took her off to the jail cells, it seemed she would need more time to be properly broken.

Noroi was willing to wait. After all, good things came with time.

000

Kakashi was thrown into the same cell, left to fend for herself. What kept her going now, she had no idea. Thoughts of her team still occupied her mind, knowing they escaped must have been where her strength flowed from. Now that she had failed to escape the first time, it would only get harder. Without chakra, Kakashi was afraid she may be stuck in the camp for longer than she initially expected.

She rested against the bars of her cell, trying to listen to the bandits and gather information. Most of it was useless bragging or talk of home. A few drunks stumbled through the camp past her, she was thankful it was too dark for them to see her.

Just as Kakashi was going to try to sleep, someone began to shout in the camp. It was far off at first but got steadily louder as whoever it was came running in her direction. What he said made her blood run cold.

"We caught one! Another of the ninja kids!"

Just as he said, one of her team was brought forward and thrown into the cell next to hers. Her strength left her when she saw Arata in the dirt, bruised and bloodied. So they had been unable to escape after all.

"You two have fun, the rest will turn up soon!" The jailors laughed and walked off, leaving the two of them to converse.

"What the hell happened, Arata? I told you to run!" Kakashi couldn't hold herself back as she growled at her student, frustrated at his capture.

In similar steel bindings like hers, Arata could barely move with his strength alone. Despite his sensei's angry tone, he could still manage one of his devilish smirks. They wouldn't be stuck in there for long, he had to assure her. Otherwise she might beat him up after they escaped.

"Yeah.." He groaned in pain. ".yeah, we know Kakashi-sensei. We were supposed to run away, but that order was bullshit and you know it!"

He coughed and panted a bit, the beating they gave him was a little much. That didn't stop him from expressing his disdain about running from battle.

"Where is Naruto? Why didn't you follow him back to Konoha?!" Kakashi had a suspicion that the blonde was actually behind this, but he had no idea what Noroi could do.

"Naruto..was the one that came up with this plan, sensei. We all are ready to do our part.." Arata grunted as he rolled around in his cell, clearly trying to do something with his cuffs.

The idiots might have searched him, but they didn't seal away Arata's chakra. They sorely underestimated what a genin could do.

"And..my part.." The strain in his voice made it clear he was close to victory with the shackles. "Is to get you out of here.."

_'Time to use that technique..'_

Funneling an undetectable amount of chakra into his hands, Arata manipulated the mechanisms inside the locks to open. A satisfying click could be heard as his wrist cuffs were removed and he quickly started on the ankle ones.

Kakashi couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was no normal technique that allowed for the manipulation of objects like that, at least not that Arata should have known how to do.

Arata didn't really understand how he did what he did either. All he knew was that from a young age, he had been able to manipulate certain objects with a bit of chakra. It had helped him survive on the streets of Konoha and it also got him recognized by the Hokage and put into the ninja academy.

It was also how he could manipulate the kunai without Naruto seeing what the technique was. It was like it came naturally to him, no seals or anything. Just a bit of chakra and he could get through any lock, pick up a shuriken from far away, even make a steel plate spin without touching it.

_'I can't punish them now, they are all here after all. I taught them never to leave a comrade behind, guess I'm to blame.'_ Kakashi hid a small smile under her mask as Arata freed himself, waving her over near him.

"Come on Kakashi-sensei,I need to get you free too! Naruto and the others must have already started."

She shuffled over to the bars that separated them, holding her arms up for him to work on the shackles. The thought of Naruto and the others being in the camp made her begin to worry, what were they going to do? No matter if she escaped and helped, there were too many bandits for all of them to fight. The only chance they had was to run.

"What are the others doing?" She asked Arata, earning another of his cheeky grins.

Those bandits wouldn't know what hit them by the time Team 7 was done with them.

"Completing our mission objectives of course. Sabotage the bandits and assassinate the leader. No matter how much Sasuke wanted to fight Noroi, Naruto said he would handle it himself." As her student continued working on the cuffs, Kakashi's mind froze.

The thought of Naruto fighting against the dark medical-nin worried her the most. Kakashi may not have gone all out against him, but he was a dangerous opponent. Naruto wasn't even a chunin yet, there was no way he could win with his current strength. She needed to save him, and now!

"Sasuke and Sakura should be finishing up the explosive tags, we escape as soon as they.." Arata smiled as the cuffs fell from Kakashi's wrists. "..go off. Come on, let me see your ankles."

"Hurry Arata, I need to get to Naruto. He doesn't know who..or what Noroi is." Arata quickly finished her ankles and soon Kakashi was free, although she was still bereft of clothing.

Luckily it was too dark for her student to see her in such an indecent situation. More importantly, she needed him and the rest of Team 7 focused if they wanted to escape alive. It wouldn't be long now before the camp would be full of fire and screams, so she had to come up with a plan fast.

Just as she thought that, the first of the wooden shacks went up in flames as an explosion rocked its base. That was the interrogation hut, good riddance she thought. Then there was another, and then another; the foodstuffs and loot the bandits had gathered all went up in flames as they scrambled to try and figure out what was going on.

"Now the party starts!" Arata thought as he unlocked their cells simultaneously, letting the jounin loose.

Marveling at his team's handiwork, Sato watched as the fire spread to the rows of tents and forced the terrified bandits to scatter. For all their might, nature could still scare the shit out of them. With a smile on his face he turned around to look at Kakashi.

"Okay sensei, we better-" He frowned when she was no longer there, having taken off in the direction of Noroi's tent.

She couldn't let Naruto fight him alone. Chakra or no, Kakashi could still do something. She had to.

000

_A few minutes earlier.._

000

Naruto ran around the perimeter of the camp, taking a moment to stop and observe the guards at certain intervals. He was mentally mapping their patrols so that he wouldn't run into any of them. It wasn't that he couldn't fight them, but he needed to be able to move fast for the team's plan to be effective.

During his recon, he thought he saw Kakashi inside one of the camp's cells. There was no mistaking it with her silver hair being the only bright thing in the night. Naruto wanted nothing more than to leap down and save her, but that would ruin the plan they had worked so hard on.

Sasuke and Sakura should have already infiltrated the camp, so it was his turn. Stealthily he crept inside past a few guards, his dark clothing helped him blend with the shadows. He made his way to where he believed the leader, Noroi, to be. If Kakashi's silver hair was a beacon in the night, that man's pale skin was the equivalent of a target on his back.

Even with the dark tattoos littering his body, Naruto could easily see him in the distance, rebuilding a tent. With the help of some sort of snake that came out of his body, he was lifting the tarp back up. All over his back were wooden splinters and dried blood so Naruto assumed some sort of fight broke out. Now all Noroi had on was a pair of dark pants and sandals, clearly too busy to bother dressing himself.

_'Now is my chance..'_ Naruto thought as he grabbed a kuani from his thigh holster.

He approached carefully, hoping to catch the enemy leader off guard. There was a chance he might have too, but Kakashi's insolence had Noroi's adrenaline high and his senses sharp.

When Naruto was just a few feet away, another chakra snake launched from Noroi's back in an attempt to bite him. The blonde got away by slicing the head off the snake and back flipping away. He observed it bleed some sort of liquid before reforming into two snakes. The magenta orbs that served as their eyes stared him down with nothing but malice.

Noroi turned to face the would be assassin, laughing as he did. When he realized it was one of Kakashi's brats he was at first annoyed that they continued to waste his time, but then an idea formed in his head. What if he captured and tortured them all, one by one, in front of Kakashi? Surely she would do anything to make their pain end. Then when she gave up and became his slave, he would kill them off without her even knowing.

It was an ingenious plan, even better than her capture. He could not wait to watch the display of emotions that would cross her face as he injected them with all manner of vile substances.

Noroi was so enamored with his plan that he did not notice Naruto going through hand signs.

If those snakes of his were going to protect him in close range, Naruto's only choice was to keep his distance. Lucky for him, that was something his nature affinity could easily handle.

"**Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu!**" Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth as a concentrated shot of dust launched forward toward Noroi.

Only able to partially dodge the attack because of his idle musings, Naruto looked in satisfaction as half of Noroi's body was ripped up and bloodied. He didn't have long to gawk as the snakes came at him again, forcing him to dodge.

"You are starting to get on my nerves, kid!" Noroi shouted as his snakes struggled to catch the elusive genin.

Naruto readied a few a kunai and shuriken, waiting for the right moment to attack. The snakes kept him moving around the battlefield, constantly rolling or dashing out of the way. It gave him a bit of time to come up with a strategy though.

If the snakes would multiply each time they were struck down then he would have to focus his attack on Noroi. Behind his back he placed an explosive tag and light grenade on two of his kunai. He was waiting for just the right moment to attack when it happened: the explosives Sakura and Sasuke had planted went off, distracting Noroi as he turned to watch his camp burn.

"No! What the hell have you brats done now?!" With that momentary distraction, Naruto threw his weapons at the nuke-nin, praying for a hit.

Noroi quickly caught on and used his snakes to block the shuriken, multiplying their numbers and blocking the attack. When the light grenade went off, he was taken by surprise and was forced to cover his dark pupils that were sensitive to the light. His snakes were unable to react to the next kunai that followed, one that had an explosive tag wrapped around its base.

Naruto watched the resulting explosion and wondered if that was the end. As he approached the smoking crater, he sensed a great amount of killing intent and retreated. Out of the smoke came the bandit leader, his body smoking and his flesh charred; the stench was almost enough to make Naruto gag. Somehow he was still alive and coming for Naruto!

"That's it brat..forget torturing you in front of Kakashi..I thought of something better anyway.." Noroi's one good eye watched Naruto carefully as the blonde prepared for his next attack. "I'm going to hold you down and force you to watch.." He smiled a truly evil smile before he said something that made Naruto's blood boil.

"I'll make you watch while I rape Kakashi..over and over again! There will be nothing you can do to help save her if you can't even make a sound!"

His chakra snakes launched forward, intent on injecting their lethal concoction into Naruto's bloodstream. It didn't matter if it was a genin or Kage, neither one could stand up to his technique. Just like Kakashi, the blonde would be putty in his hands.

The only movement that came out of Naruto was an occasional twitch or shake as his body tensed up. Noroi broke the cardinal rule when dealing with a jinchuuriki; don't make them angry. It was the one weakness that could take down their self control and bring out something dark, something evil.

The thought of Kakashi being violated by this disgusting man awoke Naruto's primal instincts and he let them take over.

Before the snakes could even touch get close, they disintegrated when an orange chakra cloak overtook Naruto's body. Naruto slowly brought his eyes up to look at Noroi; no longer the innocent baby blue, the irises were a blood red and with pupils resembling the slit of a snake. The whisker marks were now more pronounced too, signifying his transformation into something akin to a beast.

_'What the hell is this..?'_ The medical-nin wondered, never encountering something like it.

His inexperience against jinchuuriki would prove to be a fatal mistake. Expecting Naruto to be at the same level of power, Noroi was taken by surprise when the blonde launched forward with speed he could not imagine him having. Blood was spilled as Naruto's arm impaled Noroi's chest clean through, blood and bits dripping from Naruto's clawed hands.

"You..little bastard." Noroi could only insult the blonde before he dropped to the ground.

Before Naruto could finish him off, a voice stopped him. Kakashi had been watching and took that opportunity to reveal herself to him.

"Stop Naruto, that's enough. He's already lost the fight."

Noroi painfully looked over at Kakashi, meeting her gaze. His last rites, the man decided to bother her even until the end.

"So..my pet comes to save me." A furious growl made their heads turn and see Naruto try again to kill him with his claws.

Kakashi launched forward and tackled the blonde, crying in pain as the chakra cloak stung her skin. Still naked, she had no protection against the Kyuubi, but she had no other choice. Without her equipment or chakra, there was no other way to calm Naruto down.

Sensing someone familiar, Naruto reacted surprisingly calm with Kakashi straddling him. When her hand brushed his cheek, he instinctively rubbed against it.

_'Almost like a puppy..' _Kakashi thought, holding back another cry of pain as the chakra intensified. _'A very dangerous puppy..or fox in this case.'_

"It's over Naruto, just rest now." She let his head lean on the ground, his body relaxing to her every touch.

For some decency, Kakashi carefully removed Naruto's jacket and put it on over herself. Its length covered her down to her thighs and would suffice until she recovered her clothes. With Naruto resting peacefully she returned to Noroi, she had some questions she wanted to ask before he died.

Not even batting an eyelash to his bloodied coughs, Kakashi asked him her most pressing question first.

"Who do you work for? Who betrayed my team?" Noroi just laughed as blood continued to pool in his mouth and flooded the ground from the hole in his chest.

If he was going to die, he might as well have some fun.

"The answer to that..is something you can figure out for yourself. Just look within and you will see the darkness, the _rot_ forming." His vague answer didn't suffice, but she couldn't force anything.

If she so much as touched him he could go into cardiac arrest.

"What village do you really hail from? This ninjutsu is too complex for you to learn on your own!" She had never seen anything like it before, and she had copied thousands of techniques in her years as a shinobi.

Something so heinous that not even the Five Great Villages would touch. Whoever taught Noroi that power could still be at large.

His laughter turned into an angry growl and he thrashed around a bit. How dare she compare him to the weaklings this place called 'shinobi'?

"How dare you..think of me as some lowly ninja.." He coughed up more blood, his end nearing. "There is a place far from here..that has more like me.."

Noroi began to utter his last words, a dark promise for Kakashi's world.

"More will come..and I promise you.." Belying his early weakness, he was able to lift his head to be just inches from Kakashi's. "We will have our _revenge!_"

His body twitched and the light left Noroi's pupils, he was dead. The contents of Noroi's final message were what Kakashi was deep in thought over when her team arrived. They were shocked to see the scene where both the enemy leader and Naruto were on the ground and they feared the worst.

The entire camp was still burning but the bandits never once came to check on their leader. It was as if they did not care whether he lived or died, although they had good reason.

Kakashi ordered her team to look after Naruto while she grabbed her equipment and got some proper clothes on. Soon after that she reemerged from Noroi's tent, dressed like she normally was. With the equipment she had on hand she was able to break the two seals preventing her chakra and sharingan from being accessed.

Now that Kakashi was back to full strength, she carefully laid Naruto's jacket over his body. She didn't know why, but for some reason it just seemed appropriate. With another scroll she prepared to seal Noroi's body but was shocked to find it had dissolved into that same black liquid.

_'Fitting he stay an enigma to the end. Can't say I'm unhappy he's dead though..'_

Kakashi took Naruto into her arms and had the rest follow behind. They needed to get as far away as possible with the bandits still so close. Then they could make camp and rest.

Until then, she would watch over Naruto and protect him, just like he did for her.

_'I think you passed two tests today, Naruto Uzumaki. The Hokage's..and mine.' _Kakashi thought with a hidden smile.

000

_A few days later.._

000

_Konohagakure_

_Hokage's Office_

000

Kakashi's Team 7 plus Naruto had arrived for their debriefing with the Hokage and council. Admittedly, they seemed surprised everyone had made it back without much in the way of harm. Kakashi had healed considerably well as had the rest.

"The B-rank mission has been completed, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said, hands on her hips with pride.

When the jounin said the mission was completed successfully, Hiruzen's heart leaped for joy. There was something they all needed to confirm though, and it had to do with Naruto.

The blonde's face didn't betray anything as he stood stoic at Kakashi's side.

"And Naruto, how was his performance?"

Kakashi turned to her genin and saw their smiling faces; they had all come up with the decision as it turned out. The way Naruto handled the changing situation and rescued Kakashi, as well as his performance in and out of combat showed that he could take on a greater responsibility in Konoha.

"It would have been impossible without his contribution. I give him a pass."

If anyone paid close attention, they could see Naruto let loose the breath he was holding. It meant a lot to him to know they approved of his performance. He couldn't remember what happened during his battle with Noroi, but Kakashi said Naruto had beaten him. That was more than enough for him to be happy with.

The Sandaime was beaming with that news. Not even Koharu and Homura could argue with Kakashi's ruling; it had been decided that she had the final say in the matter as acting leader of the mission.

"Very well then..congratulations, to all of you. Through this great hardship thrust upon you, each and every one of you rose to the occasion and contributed to the success. Don't forget what happened on this mission and the experience you gained and it will serve you well in the future."

Team 7 received its pay and was promptly dismissed. That once again left Kakashi and Naruto behind to give the finer details of the mission. There were definitely a few discrepancies that needed to be brought up with the Hokage.

"It says here in your mission report, Kakashi, that the enemy knew you were coming. What happened?" Kakashi went into detail of the time leading up to the ambush and explained the fight itself.

"We suspect that someone within Konoha tipped them off to our presence, Hokage-sama. No one else could have known and gotten that information to the bandits in time." The Hokage looked through the scroll for additional information before shaking his head in disappointment.

"I agree Kakashi, there is something strange about this. An investigation will be launched immediately."

The council remained oddly quiet; a security breach would generally be quite alarming but they did not seem affected.

"Moving on..Naruto, it says here that you found the mission orders to be different than what were originally given, is that correct?"

Naruto knew exactly what he was referring to; the express orders to leave any team member, such as Kakashi, behind and return to Konoha at once. It was suspicious in the fact that an order of that nature was rarely if ever given for a B-rank as well as the fact that it would mean Naruto would almost certainly fail if he carried out that order. Worst of all, Kakashi confirmed that the original mission orders given to her by the Hokage did not state that condition at all.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. After Kakashi-sensei was captured, I opened the mission orders to figure out my next course of action as squad leader. It was there that I read the order that, in the case of someone being captured, we were to immediately abort the mission and retreat to Konoha." Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, not remembering such an order being given.

"This did not make any sense to me for two reasons; such an order would be uncommon for anything outside of a high ranking mission, such as A or S-rank. Even with our unique situation, the order to abandon our comrades was extreme. Second, if I were to follow that order upon Kakashi's capture, considering the nature of the mission, I would most certainly fail not only the mission but the aptitude test."

His reasons were acceptable and they continued to listen as he moved onto his final point. Naruto had gone over this in detail with Kakashi on their way back home because it bothered both of them considerably. He didn't want to miss a single detail in hopes that whoever did it would be caught.

"Upon convening with Kakashi-sensei and discovering that this clause was in direct contrast to what her original orders were, I have come up with a thesis regarding these anomalies..whoever was the insider for Noroi's group also changed the mission scroll in order to ensure that not only would I fail the chunin aptitude test, but that Kakashi would remain in captivity without support from Konoha."

The thought of someone willing to go so far as to sabotage the mission and endanger the lives of Konoha shinobi was chilling enough. Naruto's explanation, if there was such an insider, seemed to have enough logic to hold up the cause for an investigation.

Hiruzen sighed, the mission was not supposed to get as complicated as it did. However, he was thankful that they were successful and that all members returned home safely. There was no doubt he had the two ninja in front of him to thank for that outcome.

"Thank you Naruto, Kakashi. With this information we will begin an investigation immediately to ascertain if there is any truth to this conspiracy."

Now for the last bit of information that was most relevant for the blonde.

"Naruto, report to me tomorrow to receive your official letter of promotion. You both are dismissed." That gave Naruto a proud smile to wear before he left.

Kakashi and Naruto left together while Hiruzen convened with the abnormally quiet council. With luck, they would already have a suspect in mind. Only a few were privileged with the information on Naruto's test to begin with. It meant that the culprit could not hide for long.

000

As soon as Naruto left the room, he saw Asuma and Kurenai waiting for him. Immediately his older brother put his arm around Naruto's shoulders and started asking him how things went. Kurenai became his saving grace as she pulled Asuma back to give the poor boy room to explain at his own pace.

Kakashi just watched them for a little bit, glad to know they all got along so well. Naruto deserved to have a bit of a celebration after his performance and she was glad to know he was in good hands. With that, she started to make her way to the lounge to take a break. Before she could though, a familiar voice called out.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She turned to see Naruto come up behind her with a smile.

He held out a hand to shake, somewhat surprising her. Seeing her confusion, Naruto quickly explained.

"I just wanted to thank you for helping me. That goes for the rest of Team 7 too." Kakashi smiled and took his hand in her own, firmly shaking.

"Of course, as it turned out you did the most work after all. If anything I should be thanking you." Naruto scratched the back of his head, somewhat embarrassed from her praise.

"Now that I'm a chunin, do you think we will work together again?" Naruto asked lightly, his tone betraying him; he was clearly hoping that her answer would be 'yes'.

Kakashi just smiled before she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Count on it." She said with a wink, letting Naruto breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, sensei."

Kakashi nodded and then went her own way. She still wasn't at one hundred percent and needed to rest. Before she was even out of earshot though, she heard Asuma say something interesting.

"Ah, so someone still has a crush eh?"

The older brother had noticed how Naruto acted around Kakashi and had a sneaking suspicion of something. His innocent tease was just one way to confirm it. Naruto's inability to reply said everything he needed to know.

"Asuma, don't tease the poor boy. Come on, Naruto-kun, we are going to treat you to Ichiraku's." Thanking Kurenai for the save, Naruto followed her lead to his favorite dining place.

Asuma scratched the back of his head in annoyance, Kurenai again ruined his fun. He looked to see if Kakashi was still around but she was gone, out of sight.

That did not stop Kakashi from finding out something interesting about her blonde subordinate. It was unfortunate for him that he wouldn't remember anything of that night when he transformed, she mused. If he did, and if he really had a crush, something surely embarrassing would happen.

Naruto had a chance to not only see Kakashi naked, but be _sat_ on by her. Perhaps it was for the best that, appropriately, she did not broach the subject to save embarrassment for them both.

000

_Konohagakure_

000

"Where exactly are we going, Asuma?"

"You'll see."

Naruto had been pulled out of bed early in the morning by Asuma to go on some trip across the village. It had been a while since the two could hang out since Naruto went on his mission, so his older brother was using that time wisely. Today was the day Naruto would become a chunin and get his first task which would most likely keep him busy for a while.

Not only that, but the jounin had a team to take care of now. Even if he could get away with neglecting them on occasion, Asuma knew that they were just as important as Naruto. If he didn't properly raise them to be shinobi, even _he_ would be disappointed with himself.

But, that kind of work had a time and place. Right now it was time to award his little brother for the promotion.

"You keep saying that, but I really don't see anything."

They were going through the market district now. It was a busy day with shinobi and civilians alike traveling down the bustling city road. Soon enough they would arrive at a certain shop that Naruto was sure to recognize from when he was little.

"Here we are."

Naruto actually did recognize the place, it was the home of an old weaponsmith that the Sarutobi preferred. He had never really bought anything there, but Asuma and Hiruzen both recommended it.

They entered and were immediately welcomed by a friendly old man. He had a pointy mustache that extended down to his chin and a ponytail that went down to the small of his back. All around the shop were weapon stands and glass cases that housed his wares for the local shinobi populace to choose from, but he also took commissions if he didn't have what someone needed.

"Ah, Asuma-san. I see you brought Naruto on the dot, just as we discussed." Naruto raised an eyebrow, they had planned this?

Asuma never planned anything. This must have been rather important.

"Yep. Are they done?"

The old man smiled and fished out from underneath his counter what looked like a folded up table cloth. In reality it was actually very fine linen used to protect newly crafted weapons from any blemishes before the customer arrived. Not only that but, for those who could appreciate it, they had great presentation value.

"See for yourself."

Asuma stepped aside and motioned for Naruto to get the first look.

Still confused, Naruto approached the counter and carefully unfolded the soft material to see what was underneath. Not expecting much, the actual prize beneath soon shocked Naruto into muttering nonsense. The older men smiled, it seemed that Naruto was more than satisfied.

"I will take that as a compliment, Naruto-san."

"Well, looks like it was worth getting after all."

Gingerly, Naruto took one of the blades into his hand and explored every inch of it. They were real..and they were _his._ Asuma lived up to another promise he had made Naruto when he was younger, he had finally gotten Naruto his own set of chakra blades.

The street slang for them was trench knife, but these blades were made for shinobi in that nature elements could be used to enhance their combat potential. They were compact enough to be carried easily instead of an unwieldy sword but were also sharp and deadly enough to be effective even without chakra.

Naruto had watched Asuma use the blades ever since his return from self-exile and had dreamed of having a set of his own. He wanted nothing more for Asuma to teach him Hien, his own style of Taijutsu that incorporated the chakra blades. If he was willing to order these for Naruto before he even got promoted, that meant Asuma was confident that Naruto would succeed in his mission.

That made Naruto feel even better and made the reward all the more sweet.

"So Naruto, think you are ready to learn something new from your older brother?"

Naruto looked at his big brother and smiled wide.

"After that mission, I feel like I'm ready for anything. Bring it on!"

000

_Hokage's Office_

000

"It fits you well Naruto, wear it with pride." Hiruzen said with a smile, his grandson was growing up right in front of him.

Naruto was just zipping up his newly awarded flak vest when the Sandaime made the comment. It made a smile grow on his whiskered face. There was no way to describe receiving your certificate of promotion and flak vest, it was something else. Especially so when you had been waiting for more than just a few years to obtain them.

"Thank you Hokage-sama, I will."

Naruto kept his mesh long sleeve shirt on underneath the vest for a reason. He wanted to properly wear his flak vest but also keep something from his old outfit because it reminded him of his older brother, so the mesh remained as his signature. For the lower part of his body he had chosen to wear a black pair of pants, but otherwise his ensemble remained the same.

"Now then, we can discuss your new orders." With Naruto done changing, it was time to move onto business.

The Hokage had a sneaking suspicion he would enjoy his first task, if what Asuma said meant anything.

"As you know, the chunin exams are fast approaching. In fact, it is only a week away. During that week, I want you to do something productive while at the same time remaining on standby should the village require your assistance. To that end, you are to meet with Kakashi and do mandatory individual and team training with her and Team 7 until ordered otherwise. Understood?"

Naruto was surprised, he was expecting to have some work to do with the chunin exams. He had seen plenty of other chunin and jounin hard at work to prepare the exam areas and file paperwork. Not that he found any of that particularly interesting, but it was what he had resigned himself to.

In comparison, this assignment seemed like a dream come true.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. May I ask why I'm training?"

"Of course. Now that you have completed a mission with Team 7 and Kakashi, I want to encourage your growth as best as possible when it comes to working in a team. One experience won't be enough. Since you are clearly comfortable with working with Kakashi and Team 7, they are the best choice to ensure you remain receptive to what you learn."

That made sense. There weren't that many out of the village missions he could undertake with the chunin exams looming. The Hokage needed him in the village in case there was a need for him, but they also had to keep his skills sharp. Naruto performed well with Team 7, but one victory did not mean he was suddenly perfect. It would do him some good to work with Arata and the others again.

"I also hope that, outside of team building exercises, you can make some friends and have a better relationship with Kakashi. She is one of our best shinobi in the entire village and has a lot to teach you. Not only that, but I think she is interested in your progress as well. Consider her your new mentor while Asuma is busy."

Kakashi, his new mentor. He wondered if she knew about this and whether she would mind taking care of him or not.

"Does she know about this arrangement?"

Hiruzen nodded, Kakashi had even been the one to suggest it. That might embarrass Naruto so the Sandaime held it back.

"Alright then, I'll go find her immediately. Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Naruto smiled as he made his way to the jounin lounge. After such a long time of waiting, his start as a chunin was looking better and better. Asuma had put his faith in Naruto and gifted him with new strength.

Now he got to spend more time with Kakashi and even learn from her.

It made that terrible mission seem worthwhile after all.

000

And that will end our chapter. There is a bit more of the Rise of Shinobi arc that will act as sort of an introduction at the start of the next chapter before we enter the Chunin Exams. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I'll be busy the next few days since I traveled for the holiday. I will be going back to my main computer and will finally be able to write the next chapter of _Namikaze Assassin._ Expect that some time at the end of this week.

Be sure to review! They will keep the story alive.


	5. Just the Beginning

Naruto: The Return of Darkness

Chapter 4

Just the Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"Speaking"

"_Whisper"_

_'Thinking'_

_Writing/Text_

"**Jutsu**"

"**Tailed Beast/Demonic speak"**

There is a poll on my profile that has to do with another story I'm working on, not yet published. Tell me what you think, let me see where the readers are at on the characters.

Other than that, read on and enjoy.

* * *

_Konohagakure_

_Jounin Lounge_

Naruto stepped out of the Hokage's office and decided to try the jounin lounge first. He had heard from Asuma that Kakashi had been spending a lot of time there, recuperating. The wounds she sustained prevented her from doing any heavy workload for the village until they fully healed which had relegated her to mainly looking over paperwork.

Even if the medical ninja looked over her thoroughly, Naruto was still concerned there were lasting effects.

That was why he was glad the Hokage had assigned him to Team 7 and Kakashi. It would put him in a better position to keep an eye on her. If there was something he could do to help, he would do it.

As he walked the halls of the Hokage's complex, Naruto watched many ninja bustle between destinations with stacks of paperwork. The few who could see him past what they were carrying nodded in greeting or smiled; a few genin and academy students even bowed in respect. No one had ever treated Naruto badly, as few knew about his status as the Nine Tails jinchuuriki, but those reactions were not what he was used to.

_'I guess wearing a flak vest is more than just a choice in clothing, it puts you at a different level.'_ He continued to be acknowledged until he arrived at the lounge.

Although the name stated it was for high level shinobi only, the jounin lounge was open to chunins as well. That was why Naruto only hesitated a moment before entering.

The room itself was not spectacular by any means; inside were couches and booths of chairs built into small depressions in the floor. Windows took up most of the opposite wall to give everyone something to look at, although Naruto wondered if it had tactical value as well. A few cabinets were available to store food or utensils but they did not see much use.

Its main purpose was to function as a gathering point for jounin whenever the Hokage called a meeting. Very few were inside now considering the busy jobs the Hokage already had handed out. The jounin Naruto was looking for was not there unfortunately, but someone else he knew was.

Naruto recognized Kurenai sitting in one of the booths so he went over to her. Hopefully she had seen Kakashi. She smiled as he approached, glad to see a familiar face and in such a nice uniform.

"Naruto, it's good to see you. That vest looks like it was made for you to wear." He grinned, Kurenai was always so nice to him.

If it wasn't for her support, he wasn't sure he could be the person he was today. That was why he made it a point to be just as nice to her and help her whenever she needed it.

"Thanks Kurenai..do you mind if I just call you that? Sensei just seems so..impersonal." Even before his promotion, Naruto had difficulty trying to pick the proper title to give to Asuma and Kurenai.

Though they both had taught him techniques as well as served as a teacher figure, that relationship was superseded by them being his older siblings.

Kurenai, not one to make a big fuss over such things, waved him off with a small laugh. That he was even concerned about giving her an honorific tickled her.

"Don't worry Naruto, you can call me whatever you like. Just remember to act properly when your around superiors." Even though she didn't mind, other jounin or the Hokage might depending on the situation.

With that out of the way, Naruto broached his main question.

"Have you seen Kakashi anywhere, Kurenai? I thought she might be here but I guess I was wrong." An interested look appeared on Kurenai's visage as he asked the question.

_'Naruto has been quite attached to Kakashi since that mission. I wonder what happened between those two.'_

Rumors traveled fast about what happened during the mission, mostly from certain Team 7 genin bragging about it. Most considered them false until proven by Kakashi, but she had been unsurprisingly tight lipped about the matter.

Kurenai had not wanted to interfere with neither hers or Naruto's personal life so she didn't bother to ask, but it was still interesting. Perhaps Asuma wasn't as far off in his teasing as she thought.

Fortunately, she had information the blonde wanted to hear.

"Why yes I have. Gai was just in and forced her away to train with him, apparently he challenged her to something again." Naruto was understandably confused.

Kurenai struggled to find a proper term to describe Gai, in a way to sum everything up. In the end she had to settle with just describing his personality, as she refused to use the term 'youthful' as he most assuredly would have preferred.

"Gai is a fellow jounin and childhood friend of Kakashi's, as well as her self-proclaimed rival. Whenever he gets the chance he always challenges her to something outrageous to see which one of them is better at it. He is a bit too..eccentric for his own good and with Kakashi still healing, I hope he doesn't make her overdo it."

That was enough for Naruto to know. There was no way he was going to let this Gai force Kakashi into doing something she probably didn't even want to do.

"Thanks Kurenai, I'll go check the training grounds. Hopefully I can save her before something terrible happens." The young woman watched Naruto leave, amused by the pressure he put on himself to _rescue_ Kakashi.

Maybe it really was just her imagination, but things were getting interesting between those two.

* * *

Naruto wasn't able to get far before he ran into his first obstacle. There were definite positives to having the Hokage's office and the jounin lounge all in the same place, but the academy was a different story. If he didn't want to deal with another _assassination_ attempt from Konohamaru, he had to avoid the area entirely.

Unfortunately, the thought of Kakashi hurting herself training was enough to make Naruto forget which part of the building he was running through. Soon enough Konohmaru and his friends came into view before they were quickly pushed out of the way by the much larger chunin.

Even as an academy student, the Hokage's grandson had a great ego and was not about to take getting pushed down from anyone, not even his uncle. When he saw it was Naruto, it only seemed to make him angrier.

"Watch where yer goin', will ya? Wait..Uncle Naruto?!"

Naruto turned around to see who he had pushed past and turned a bit white when he realized who it was. Things were about to get ugly.

"Konohama-"

"I've got you now! Get 'em Moegi, Udon!"

His two friends in the academy were hesitant to follow orders, but were quickly reminded who Konohamaru's grandfather was. That got them to run after Naruto with Konohamaru leading the pack, intent on taking Naruto down and claiming the title of chunin for their own.

They tackled the chunin all at once in an attempt to bring him to the ground. When they all comically fell through the blonde's chest, they looked to see the simple clone disappear. As Konohamaru cursed Naruto and his ability in E-rank ninjutsu, the real one was already halfway to the training grounds.

Real or fake attempts on his life, Naruto didn't even flinch.

* * *

_Konohagakure_

_Training Grounds_

"Come on Kakashi, this is the ULTIMATE test of faith between you and your youthful students! At least try to play along!"

"There will be no competition. You are just making a fool of yourself, Gai."

"Oh no you don't Kakashi, last time you tried to warn me about 'making a fool of myself', I almost lost the competition. Not this time!"

Naruto came across an interesting sight when he arrived at the training ground. In front of him there were _two_ of Kakashi, identical in almost every way. One of them seemed to be shouting something about burning youth while the other stood there with hands in pocket, completely calm.

When they realized he was standing there, they immediately stopped bickering. The one which had been so passionate a moment before did their best to mimic Kakashi's laid back pose. Though they were able to keep their hands in the pant pockets, that Kakashi was unable to pull off the uninterested look Naruto had gotten so used to seeing.

"Hello Naruto-kun, I hope you are ready for some grade-A training today. It will be most yout-I mean most hip!" The clear imposter said with a thumbs up and barely hidden smile.

Naruto looked at her for a moment, turned, and then addressed the normal Kakashi as he would usually.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you sure you are alright with training so soon after our mission?"

She gave him an iconic eye smile and nodded, completely ignoring the devastated Gai to her right.

"I feel better now Naruto, thanks for the concern."

"I'm glad to hear that, it means we can start training together sooner."

"Oh? Quite eager aren't you?"

Their conversation was cut off by an irate Gai who had since transformed back and had been trying to get their attention by flailing his arms madly. Unfortunately, Kakashi's previously mentioned coolness prevented her from hearing him and it seemed her student shared the sentiment.

"Hey, Kakashi! What the heck was that performance?!"

Kakashi turned to her overzealous friend with a bored expression and, in the most matter-of-fact tone, spoke.

"Oh right, the competition. Guess you lost."

Gai was unable to form words in response, preferring instead to quietly dismiss himself. It seemed Kakashi racked up another victory, he would have to try even harder the next time! He _would _learn the ways of Kakashi's cool and then she would have no choice but to accept Gai's feelings.

Poor guy, she just was not interested.

With her full attention back to Naruto, Kakashi could finally update him on what the Hokage had no doubt told him by now. Out of respect for the Hokage as well as her sensei, she felt obligated to look out for Naruto's well being and teach him whatever she could. That meant that he would need to have an excuse to be with her, for her to lead by example.

With the Hokage's help, she was able to arrange that. Hopefully Naruto didn't mind much.

"The Hokage has no doubt told you that you are now partnered with Team 7 and I. Don't think of it as much of a punishment but learning experience."

Naruto could barely hold back his excitement, there was no way he could see that as punishment.

"I see a lot of my younger self in you Naruto, so I'd like to help you if I can. What all this means is that we will be spending more time together, you don't mind right?"

"I don't mind at all, Kakashi-sensei."

They shared a smile before Kakashi led him into the open training ground. It was a beautiful day that would be a shame to waste. That meant the two would start early by training today, without the rest of the team.

"Alright Naruto, I've already gone over your profile the Hokage gave me. From what I can tell, your experiences with Asuma and Kurenai gave you a well rounded balance in your taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. Does that sound about right?"

Naruto was doing a few light stretches to get ready for whatever Kakashi was going to throw at him. He nodded in agreement, the training those two had given him really did help.

"My job isn't to build on what you have already learned from Asuma-san and Kurenai-san, it would only hinder your growth. I'm going to be teaching you new techniques that can be used in conjunction with what you already know." That made enough sense to Naruto and it also sounded a lot more interesting.

"So, what's first?"

"First, we elaborate on your wind affinity. Do you know anything about it Naruto? Other than of course, you can create wind chakra." Naruto only knew what he remembered from academy and from what Asuma told him when they first discovered the affinity.

"Well, I know that it is strong against raiton techniques, like yours. It is also weak against katon techniques, but can be used to enhance them if the user knows both." Kakashi smiled, he had the simple definition figured out.

"That is correct, fūton techniques are also well known for enhancing a weapon's length and power. But the technique I am going to teach you goes along with what you already know, enhancing katon with fūton chakra."

Naruto was intrigued, but he didn't know how to mold katon chakra. Perhaps that was what Kakashi would teach him.

Kakashi started teaching him the basic hand signs of the technique as she continued to speak.

"Remember Naruto, with enough practice you can master any element. Something like that can take years though, so it is better to focus on something complimentary to what you already know. That is why Asuma-san knows both katon and fūton techniques, because they work so well together."

The hand signs weren't difficult to learn as Naruto had seen them done before. Kakashi was teaching him a common fireball technique that many of the village's shinobi already employed. It was something even Naruto had yet to learn though, so he paid close attention as she described the proper way to handle fire chakra in the body.

"You will feel the heat build in your stomach and come up your esophagus, release it with a gust of air from your lungs. That is how many fire techniques, basic or complex, are formed."

That was when Kakashi left the rest in Naruto's hands, as she knew the best way to learn was from personal experience. It took him most of the rest of their time together, but Naruto's fireball technique was growing larger each time he committed to it. She was amazed by the amount of chakra he had to continue training for hours, but considering the fox, it wasn't so unbelievable.

"Well done, Naruto-kun. Next time we will see what effects it has with a fūton technique. Remember, we have a practice with the rest of the team tomorrow at noon."

Kakashi dismissed him and went her own way back home, as the sun was setting.

Naruto just watched her leave before turning for home himself. He immediately ran into Asuma whom had caught onto their training session and had been watching from the sidelines. They seemed to work together well, as if it was natural; Naruto hung off her every word and Kakashi knew how to manipulate that positively.

"Well well, good to see you finally making some progress. I thought you two would never part."

His teasing didn't affect Naruto as much this time, as their reason of being together was because of the Hokage himself.

"What are you doing here, Asuma?" Naruto asked, neutral.

Asuma smiled, him putting up that tough act only made it more fun. For now though he would put away the jokes, there was serious business afoot after all.

"I caught Kurenai in the lounge and found out you were looking for Kakashi. Since I wanted to get some work done with your taijutsu training, I thought I'd try and find you. Of course, you two _would _stay inseparable until the end of the day." He said in a mock accusing tone, as if it was Naruto's fault.

With the next joke, Naruto deadpanned.

"Does Kakashi know about this running gag?"

"Of course she does. Her hearing is better than you think." That wasn't a satisfactory answer, but Naruto knew there was no getting through to him.

"Alright, then if you really do want to train me now let's figure out a time to meet tomorrow." Naruto suggested, still skeptical Asuma had any time to spare from his team.

"I was just thinking about that. How about we knock two birds with one stone; we train the hour before you are supposed to meet up with Kakashi and you can impress her by showing off your skills. As long as you can learn fast enough, that is." Sensing a challenge, Naruto was up for it.

"If you can get up that early, then so can I. Let's do this."

The two brothers set out for home, both very sure the other would be experiencing a taste of humiliation the next time they fought.

* * *

_Training Grounds_

Naruto and Asuma were both up before their allotted training hour, preparing themselves. Asuma had the obvious advantage; Naruto may have watched him use the blades, but the forms and stance eluded him. It would be fair, however, because Asuma would give his younger brother a crash course before smoking him into dust.

They left together, without a word. Both wore confident grins that they would be victorious. Neither of them really remembered what started the competition,only knowing that they would not concede.

Asuma and Naruto arrived at the training grounds a little late, but made up for it with determination. They both took out their chakra blades and, with Asuma leading, went through the stance as well as the common forms of Hien. These would be what Naruto would use the most often in combat.

"Remember to go with the wind, not against it. Your movements should be powerful but graceful, quick to react."

"Against anything larger than a kunai, use both blades to block unless you want a chunk taken out of you. They are durable, but they don't have that good of defense."

"You can slice your opponent along the entire length of the blade, but remember you will have the most power behind the thinner part. That is also where you will want to extend your wind chakra."

Naruto went through the paces of each form a few times. At times he felt like some sort of taijutsu boxer, others he felt like a legitimate swordsmen. Up until that point he had been holding back using his chakra to extend the blade, to save energy, but now was Naruto's turn to try.

"Okay Asuma, I think I have the basic forms down. Now tell me how to shape my chakra around it."

Asuma had been watching Naruto and felt like he was ready to step it up to the next level. After all, if he didn't learn how to use a chakra blade effectively, he wouldn't stand a chance in one on one.

"Take a careful look at your blade and memorize the shape of it. The hardest part of shape manipulation is getting your chakra to properly take on the shape you want. To start with, focus your chakra around the lower tip of the blade, wrapping it around to form a point that extends from the physical edge."

Naruto held up his left arm so that the blade was level. He began to feed chakra into the blade, a bit too much at first; blue energy enveloped the blade for a moment, but Naruto got it under control. As he focused the chakra around the lower edge, it began to turn blue-white as the chakra became wind itself. A low whipping sound could be heard, as if a storm was brewing.

It was shaky, but Naruto was holding the chakra's shape around his blade. To experiment the durability he swung it around a few times, the pressure to hold it in place wasn't as bad.

As he began to envelope the rest of the weapon in chakra, Asuma watched on. Naruto was constantly putting too much or too little chakra into the blade or lost his concentration, but he kept at it. With that kind of rate, he might have had a higher endurance than even Asuma.

"Alright Naruto, enough messing around. I've shown you the basics, but for the advanced stuff you are going to have to fight me."

Naruto looked at his hands, flexing the muscles that the blades used. Yes, it was tricky but he could do it. Asuma would have the advantage but not for long.

"Are you sure you can handle this?"

Asuma smirked, willing to take that challenge. He brought up his own trench knives and got into the standard form, arms up and legs ready to pounce.

Naruto mimicked his brother, already funneling wind chakra to his blades. It wasn't enough to be seen, but it was enough to make an impact.

_'So that is his plan..'_ Asuma had gotten used to hearing wind chakra with his own extensive use of it, and he knew the trick Naruto was trying for.

For now, he decided to play along.

Being the younger and more aggressive, Naruto launched forward to start the battle. Their blades clashed and sparks flew as Naruto's chakra around his blades intensified. That forced Asuma back, unable to resist the ferocity of the attack. Naruto's blade turned from dagger to something akin to a buzz saw, the wind tore at the bit to grab a hold of the jounin.

_'Damn, Naruto isn't backing down from this one.'_ Asuma funneled his own chakra, elongating his weapon blades with wind.

They clashed again, evenly matched for the first few moments. As Naruto was pushed back by Asuma's raw strength, they fell into the taijutsu side of Hien. Fists flung and blades clashed as they weaved in and out of attacks before trying to weave a horizontal or vertical slice. Neither could get through, but the wind chakra was getting its tribute; the whipping wind started scratch and scrape their arms and hands that were soon covered in blood.

"You can't win like this Naruto, you are too obvious!" Asuma blocked another strike and, with a previously measured calculation, swung his chakra out for a strike at Naruto's abdomen.

"And you are too careful, you won't get through with that speed!" Naruto's body betrayed his fervor as it shook blocking the attack.

Their duel only got louder and louder until it started to attract visitors. Neither of them noticed as four familiar faces emerged from an adjacent training ground.

As it turned out, Kakashi had gathered her squad earlier than she told Naruto. She wanted to talk with them and get some individual training done before Naruto took over her priorities. That said, she was surprised to see the blonde not only up early and training but fiercely fighting against Asuma with wind chakra.

"Holy-"

Before Arata loudly announced their presence, Sakura placed a hand over his mouth and punched him in the head. None would admit it, but they were entranced by the sights and sounds of pure chakra slamming into itself.

Naruto and Asuma retreated from one another, gaining distance. With one last effort they both leaped forward with their weapons ready. They slammed into each other with enough force to crack the earth beneath their feet.

"It's over..Naruto..give up already.." Asuma again pushed Naruto to the limit, forcing him back.

_'Guess I will have to try something crazy..'_ Naruto thought regretfully as he would have liked to win with raw strength.

"This is..something I learned..from Kakashi-sensei!" Without going through hand signs, Naruto created a small stream of flame from his mouth and ignited the wind chakra.

It launched forward and enveloped Asuma in a raging fireball. That gave Naruto the chance he needed to retreat when he realized Asuma replaced himself with a log.

Kakashi was amazed Naruto was even able to wield those blades, let alone use katon in such a situation. Just one training session from her and the blonde had already figured out how to apply it to another technique he just recently learned.

"Well done, Naruto." Asuma sat in a tree branch just above Kakashi's squad, his grin filled with pride.

That was when Naruto finally realized he had an audience and was unsure of what to do or say. He looked like a wild man, his breath hoarse and his arms torn up. When the genin applauded and Kakashi just smiled a knowing smile, he knew he had won.

The rest of the training with Team 7 went well, but it was nowhere near eventful as the Hien fight. Not even Arata and his ego could find a way to find fault in Naruto's performance, not when Kakashi couldn't. For now, he had that victory.

* * *

_A week later.._

_Konohagakure_

_Ninja Academy_

It was finally time for the much anticipated chunin exams. Though the genin were surely fretting it, Naruto had no such problems. He was on his way to the ninja academy now to meet up with the jounin. For now his orders were to attend each event with the squad leaders, basically to remain on standby.

_'Fine by me I guess..'_

Naruto landed in the the courtyard of the academy. He noticed quickly that most of the genin had already gone inside to take the test. From what he heard it was some sort of written exam, but if he could find Kakashi or Kurenai they might be able to tell him more.

Before he could even walk in the door he was collected by Kurenai. She had already been inside to see Team 8 off and so was headed back to the lounge. The other jounin had been aware of Naruto's orders and so were on the lookout to bring him along should they find him. Kurenai was glad to find him first.

"Hello Naruto-kun, ready for the chunin exams?"

Naruto wasn't noticing anything significant yet, so he shrugged.

"Can't say I am Kurenai-chan. Nothing seems different I guess."

Kurenai smiled, it seemed Naruto had missed the large procession of genin. If he had seen them, surely that would be enough to spark his interests. She couldn't blame him for feeling bored though, the entire event was mostly hands off by the village except for the exam proctors; the rest of the jounin and chunin would not be doing much of anything related.

"Come on, Kakashi was just finishing up with Team 7. We can walk to the lounge together."

The thought of seeing his new teacher again seemed to reinvigorate him. Naruto and Kakashi got along well together for some reason, even if they acted differently. Naruto was reserved but cheerful, Kakashi was almost isolated in comparison, she kept her distance from everyone. The blonde was the first one she had shown any interested in.

A few stragglers aside, the halls were empty. It was kind of odd seeing the academy, usually so full of life now almost like a tomb. Naruto tried to play it off as just anxiety, but it bothered him.

Kurenai seemed to not notice as they deftly navigated the halls. That was something many of the genin seemed to have trouble doing even if they had been through these halls countless times before. Maybe that was another test the chunin exam offered-an unwritten one, to test the nerves.

As they went up the last flight of stairs, Kakashi came into view. She was already making progress down the hall toward the lounge, hands in pocket. Nothing seemed to faze her about leaving her charges to the wolves. Perhaps Kakashi was just quicker to accept that it was for the best.

"Kakashi!" Hearing Kurenai, the silver haired jounin turned around.

When she saw her fellow kunoichi's charge, she realized what was going on. She was beginning to wonder if Naruto was going to show up for his mission. Now that he was there and had already missed Team 7's goodbyes, there was little left to see.

"Kurenai-san, Naruto. Good to see you made it, though there isn't anything left to do but wait."

They joined her by the entrance, taking a moment before entering. Asuma and Gai were most likely inside already.

"So Kakashi-sensei, what exactly am I supposed to be doing? The Hokage just said report to you." Naruto made his assumptions but really he had no idea.

"You won't be seeing much for the first exam unfortunately, it is a written test. We aren't allowed inside for obvious reasons, so for now we wait. Once the first exam is finished, the jounin will make their way to the second exam's location. Naruto, I think you'll like that one."

Kurenai shared a glance with Kakashi, clearly knowing what she was talking about. Naruto had only the faintest idea so he didn't appreciate their conspiratorial looks.

"Come on, everyone else is already comfortable." They went inside with the genjutsu mistress's urging.

Gai and Asuma were already here, along with a few other jounin from squads Naruto didn't recognize. Most were sitting in the booths while a few chose to stand and talk near a drink dispenser. Most everyone paid attention as they came in, eyes locked on the blonde.

"What's a chunin doing here?" One of the jounin asked, confused.

"Yeah, don't you have something better to do?" Another said with a haughty tone, taking a swig of his drink.

Naruto didn't like their attitudes but said nothing. He didn't have to. Kurenai and Kakashi made it clear he was with them, even Gai glared at the offending jounin.

"Hokage's orders, mind your business."

Kakashi ended that conversation with her flat, no argument tone. Kurenai looked no less serious, arms crossed.

The first one whom had been genuinely confused put his hands up in surrender. Last thing he wanted to do was bother the two ice queens of the village. His rude counterpart however clearly had some backbone and was not about to back down.

Niko had followed the village's orders since he was as young as some of the academy students. He earned his rank with blood and sweat, and watched even more of his friends and comrades lose their lives. That was why it annoyed him that this kid with the whisker face got to go on some mission and suddenly thought of himself as _all that_. The only reason he got a promotion was the Hokage's special treatment, nothing more.

"I'm just sayin' that someone like _him_ disrespects the rest of us by being here. What has he done to stand in these halls and call himself a chunin?" When Kakashi realized the idiot was being serious, she got serious too.

To make her point, she approached Niko to speak face to face. Hands on her hips, her voice remained neutral if not a bit annoyed.

"Naruto had been waiting for a chance to become chunin for longer than he should have. Not just that, if it wasn't for him the mission would have failed. He demonstrated ability that surpassed what anyone expected." It was ludicrous she had to explain this again, but for some reason Niko didn't hear anything meaningful.

"All I see is a _weak_ kunoichi..that needed _saving_ by the Hokage's **pet**!" To hammer his point home, he jabbed a finger at Kakashi's chest, but was stopped midstep, even before Asuma or Gai could get up.

Naruto stood next to Kakashi, crossing the distance with little more than a flicker. His gloved hand held the protruding finger tightly, not enough to break but enough to hurt. No one would disrespect Kakashi after Naruto had seen what she had to go through for the sake of _that_ mission, not even the Hokage could have. That was why Naruto was seriously thinking about breaking his finger to teach Niko a lesson.

"Ah..Ah!" Niko was trying to ease his finger out of Naruto's grip but yelped when he only tightened his hold.

"She doesn't have to take that from anyone, especially not _you_."

A soft voice calmed his heaving chest. Her hand rested on his shoulder, the thumb just barely touching the nape of his neck. Even if he had gone too far, even if he would get punished for it, Naruto wouldn't back down until someone he trusted told him to.

"Naruto, it's fine. Just relax."

Kakashi knew she had to keep him calm if she wanted the situation to not escalate further, the last thing they needed was the fox making a reappearance. She was flattered if not a bit confused at why Naruto reacted the way he did, but petty squabbles weren't important. There were bigger things they had to be concerned for during such an important event like the exams.

With much reluctance Naruto let him go, but remained close to Kakashi. Niko was visually infuriated to be humbled by Naruto, but many others were intimidated. Naruto may have just been a chunin but his eyes promised murder if anyone tried to hurt someone close to him.

"This ain't over kid..not by a long shot." The offender waved his hand through dirty pink hair, visibly frustrated he couldn't take out his anger.

There was a time and place for that and he would make sure to show Naruto what it meant to be a Konoha ninja. That was something there was no way he could learn, one tough mission or not.

Kakashi led Naruto over to where Asuma and Gai were getting settled in again. She needed to remember to keep those two away from each other to avoid further conflict. Niko didn't know the kind of hornet's nest he was poking and it could have disastrous results for the both of them. If Kakashi could do anything, she wanted to keep Naruto's hands clean of the blood of a fellow Konoha shinobi.

To have to go through that experience was not something she would wish on anyone.

"Well Naruto, you sure know how to start a party. Things were quiet 'till you got here." Asuma said, trying to lighten things up.

A glare from Kurenai cut him short and he realized that the comment was made in bad taste. The quicker the confrontation was out of mind, the better.

"Naruto-kun, your youth was on GREAT display just then. I haven't seen a man come to a woman's aid with that speed since..well, since myself!" Gai gave him a thumbs up and bright smile, making Naruto grin.

"Thanks, I think."

Kurenai and Kakashi sat on Naruto's sides while Asuma and Gai sat across. There was an odd tinge of jealousy both men experienced as they watched the women cling abnormally close to the blonde. He was clearly oblivious about the attention, or didn't consider it outside of the norm. Neither of the girls might have realized what they were doing either, but clearly they were concerned about his well being after the fight.

Niko and the rest of them were pushed from mind as they just started to talk about the day. What each of them did and how their genin were before the test started. It was nothing special, but Naruto felt right at home. That was something Niko couldn't take away from him, the moments he shared with his precious people.

* * *

_Forest of Death_

_Tower_

Naruto and the rest of the jounin made their way through the second exam's training ground with little effort. They dodged and evaded all matter of creatures and plants, even a few leftover traps from the genin teams whom had gone farther in.

Kakashi stayed close to him, ensuring Naruto's safety. That was especially important to the Hokage as he put her mission orders in perspective; with so many foreign shinobi, they could not risk leaving Naruto alone for long. Not to mention that Niko had not stopped giving Naruto a glare since they left the lounge, she did not know if the unruly man would try something.

Luckily they made it through with little trouble and Niko was not permitted to go to the tower. His team had failed the written exam, fitting she felt. It displayed a failure in his teachings rather than the individual genin, he didn't raise them to the standards he supposedly set himself to-standards Naruto apparently did not meet.

_'Fool, the only proper term to describe.'_ Her thoughts were shared but not expressed by many of the others.

The procession of ranked shinobi included jounin from foreign nations like Suna and Oto. Neither of them seemed all that polite or welcoming so Konoha steered clear, preferring to stay with their own. Everyone was headed in the same direction though, they were to see the Hokage and wait for their teams to arrive.

Hiruzen waited in one of the rooms higher up in the tower. It was littered with tubes and monitors that allowed the attending shinobi to keep an eye on the second exam takers as well as the environment itself. A few ANBU were present as well at the Hokage's bequest, arms folded at his flanks with bored faces hidden behind porcelain. Shortly before the jounin arrived, a proctor arrived to alert the Hokage.

He turned and watched as the nicely sized group of older shinobi entered, all bowing in respect to the Kage—not even the foreign countries were immune from that. Then he saw Naruto closely attended to by Kakashi and a smile graced his lips. It was good to see they had made it safely.

"Welcome jounin, to where you will be spending quite some time for the next few days. Here in the tower you will wait for the victorious genin to arrive, in which we will progress to the next stage of the exams."

Though the idea of staying in the tower was not all the appealing, the thought of their teams walking through the gates victorious was enough to sway most of those present.

Naruto had to admit that, even if he only knew what little Kakashi and the others explained to him, the chunin exams were intense. It didn't bother any confidence he already had in himself, but somewhere in the back of his mind he was glad he wasn't slogging through the forest with the rest of them.

His thoughts drifted to Team 7 and there was some concern; was Sakura doing alright, would Arata listen to the others, or was Sasuke even properly leading them?

He guessed he would find out soon enough. A hand on his shoulder made him turn and see Kakashi indicate he follow her out.

"Come on, no point in staying here with the rest."

"Where are we going?"

A mischievous glint came to her revealed eye, surprising Naruto. He was not sure he had seen that side of Kakashi before, he had no idea she knew how to have fun. The thought sounded bad after he said it, but it still rang true with the rumors of her status as 'ice queen'.

"Somewhere with a great view."

Kakashi led him upstairs past where most of the rest of the staff bothered to work. There they went through a set of doors that led them to the very tip of the tower. It commanded a respectable view of the entire forest and even out farther, the trees were barely stalks of grass in comparison.

"Holy..."

Naruto walked over to the edge-they were up so high that no safety railing existed. All the real viewing areas were farther below.

Kakashi joined him without as much reaction, she had been here a few times before. Once during the chunin exams she herself took as a child as well as during her time in the ANBU. When she was first showed this spot by her sensei, she couldn't much believe it herself.

000

"_Here Kakashi, I have something to show you. Consider it a reward for your performance."_

"_What do you mean sensei? Wa-" Before the poor girl could argue, Minato flashed through space and time._

_They appeared on the roof, Kakashi flopping to the ground. She was still not used to that experience and doubted she ever would be. When she realized where they were she gasped in amazement._

"_Sensei..is this the very top?"_

"_Yes..the view was so great I had to mark it. I return here every so often to think."_

_Kakashi could see why, it was so serene up there. Without the wind there was barely a sound. She would have promised to remember the spot, if it was something forgettable. Luckily, that was unnecessary._

"_Kakashi, promise me something." The young girl looked back at her sensei, hair blowing in the wind. "Be sure to bring someone close to you to this spot. Don't let it be forgotten."_

_The thought of Obito joining her there gave Kakashi a light feeling in her stomach, it sort of made her uncomfortable. No, the idiot wouldn't appreciate it anyway. She would have to wait._

000

"_Sure, sensei."_ Kakashi whispered her response out of Naruto's earshot.

It had taken a while but she found someone to bring along. Maybe it was only fitting it be Minato's son, but for some reason she didn't think that was the reason she chose Naruto. The smile on his face was enough to tell her alone it was the right decision. He almost reminded her of Minato as he stood there in a similar pose, arms crossed and face calm as he took in the view.

"Something like this can't go to waste, Kakashi-sensei. Some day we should come back here, maybe bring someone else along?"

Kakashi smiled, he was right. A moment like that couldn't go to waste.

"Sure, Naruto-kun. Let me know when you find someone."

* * *

_Some time later.._

"You who are gathered today have successfully completed the second exam, displaying your abilities to survive as a shinobi."

Hiruzen welcomed the remaining genin teams, all lined up to be presented. There were more than Anko had first expected so they would have need of the preliminary match format, but first an introduction and congratulation was in order. Their bodies were caked in dirt and light wounds, they deserved that much.

Naruto stood behind the Hokage as he gave his speech, along with the rest of the remaining jounin. Kakashi stood at his side, looking no more attentive than usual. The others held themselves to a bit higher regard, hands clasped at their backs or arms at their sides, eyes straight. Naruto was like them, he was unable to act in such a laid back manner in such an important event, especially with the Hokage right there; they were representing Konoha after all, right?

Those who had their team fail were sent to collect them...or their remains. It was a grisly job but no jounin would refuse it; it was the worst wake up call one could receive, but a necessary one. It was a warning, a grave one, for the next group that jounin may train, to make them work that much harder to see it not happen again.

Naruto's interest peaked when they revealed that the latter part of the exam would consist of preliminary matches. Those would decide who could move onto the final part, some sort of battle royale a month from then. He followed Kakashi as she walked with Team 7 to the balconies that lined their concrete arena.

"So Naruto, you been taking good care of sensei while we were away?" Arata asked with a coy smile.

Before Sakura could give him another good hit to the head, Naruto beamed.

"Yep, no worries there." They were frozen midstep, even Kakashi's eye widened. "Seems like you guys handled yourselves well so far. Don't fail now."

Sasuke was the first to recover, a smart grin on his face.

"Naturally. None of these guys are strong enough to challenge us after all." He crossed his arms in confidence, but Naruto felt something off about him.

It was like his body was barely holding it together. Kakashi must have picked up on it too, her eye focusing on the Uchiha.

Arata grinned, nodding in agreement.

Sakura, her hair now cut short from some battle in the forest, couldn't enjoy the praise. She was too worried about Sasuke after what Orochimaru did to him.

Naruto led the two genin over to a free spot in the stands while Kakashi whispered something in Sasuke's ear. His eyes widened for a moment, surprised by what she said. He quickly recovered as Kakashi patted his shoulder, carefully, and returned to where Naruto was.

They stood with the team as Hayate quickly got the show started. A monitor appeared and revealed who the first two fighters would be, Sasuke and Yoroi. Those two were promptly herded to the arena as the rest of them geared up to watch how the Uchiha would handle the fight.

* * *

Upon Sasuke's victory, Kakashi quickly dismissed herself to attend to the genin. It seemed that whatever was wrong was more than the medical ninja could handle, as she waved them off. Naruto watched as Sasuke was led away by her, unsure of what to do.

Kakashi gave an unspoken order that she had wanted Naruto to stay. It was clear in her body language she was not to be followed, but it didn't make him feel any better.

Naruto looked at Arata and Sakura, both were clearly concerned for their teammate. Not even the rogue could hide his feelings, those small hands of his were balled into fists. Whoever did whatever to Sasuke that was making him like that had made some enemies in Team 7.

Faking a smile, Naruto tustled Arata's brown hair and winked.

"Don't worry, Kakashi will handle it." The tension left them as Arata pouted about being treated like a kid.

The chunin's mind was elsewhere, however, and he made a silent decision in his mind to check on something.

Only a few of the ninja in the room, namely the more attentive jounin, noticed Naruto subtly leave a clone of himself behind as he flickered through the exit. The Hokage tipped his hat, concerned that something had happened. If Naruto was willing to make that kind of exit, it was clearly something was wrong.

_'I'll leave it to you, Naruto. Be careful.'_

The matches continued, unaware that two Konoha shinobi were about to have a very real, very frightening run in with an S-class criminal.

* * *

"That should do it." Sasuke's grunts and groans of pain ceased as he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Kakashi had just finished sealing the cursed mark, the seal in which Orochimaru placed on her student during the second exam. Sasuke was lucky to be alive by any count if what happened to Anko told them anything. Then again, perhaps it was more appropriate that he be considered cursed.

"Congratulations, Kakashi. Good for you, sealing away that nasty mark." Her eyes widened when she realized just who was speaking.

Kakashi turned on her heel to face Orochimaru who emerged from the shadows. His wide smile coupled with the malice hidden behind it was enough to turn her entire body cold. She tensed in case he was going to try anything, she needed to be ready.

"Orochimaru..isn't this a bit bold of you?"

The criminal said nothing for a bit, approaching her. When he did speak, it was very casual—as if she wasn't even a threat.

"I am only here to retrieve my prize. You did not conceal the fact Sasuke survived the attack very well, you only can blame yourself."

One more step toward her made Kakashi lower her right arm and begin to gather chakra. She used her left hand to hold her wright wrist, helping her keep control of the technique. He wouldn't get Sasuke as long as she was breathing.

"You will come no further. **Raikiri!**"

Orochimaru just laughed, a truly entertained laugh. She actually thought that would stop him?

"Come on Kakashi, that won't be enough to stop me. Just stand aside."

Before he could go any farther, another sound rang out. Instead of the crackle of unkempt lightning, this was the whipping of a powerful wind storm. They turned to see Naruto appear from the darkness, from behind a pillar. He had been waiting for the right moment to interrupt, hoping that Orochimaru would run from Kakashi alone.

There was no way he would let her fight this fight alone, even if he was outmatched.

"You'll have to go through me too."

Orochimaru saw the jinchuuriki brat and scowled, his fun ruined.

Kakashi wanted to reprimand Naruto for coming, but she was most likely still alive because he was there.

"Hmph. Konoha has become a lot more..annoying since I left. Fighting the two of you might be a bit too much, so I suppose I can wait until Sasuke comes to me on his own." Orochimaru turned to Kakashi who still stood ready to strike, even if a bit of fear gripped her heart.

"Now is your chance, Kakashi. Just try and kill me, see if you can save your precious student." He turned to leave, binding both her and Naruto in a very powerful aura of killing intent.

It was enough to make them both flinch, Naruto even fell to one knee. So that was the power of an S-class shinobi, not something either one of them were willing experience again.

They just remained there for a while, collecting themselves. Then Kakashi collected Sasuke and told Naruto to return to the stands, they had to keep appearances normal. She would deposit the Uchiha at the hospital and return, so he had to keep Arata and Sakura calm.

Although he was hesitant to leave Kakashi alone after that encounter, he knew that his element of surprise was useless. Not to mention there was little he could do against Orochimaru in his current state.

Begrudgingly he returned to the stands to watch the finishing part of Arata's match against Tenten.

There wasn't much left for him to watch though, because Tenten had just about run out of tricks. Arata had her on the run with his technique, manipulating her own barrage against her. She did her best to dodge or block, but any weapon she tried to use just added to the boy's arsenal.

Obviously tired, Tenten gave up when she realized that she just was not able to fight in her current condition. Hayate made the ruling final and the weapons fell to the ground, motionless.

The applause was sporadic but again it came from the Konoha side. Naruto and a few others gave him the deserving applause, while Team Gai looked disappointed with the outcome. No one could blame Tenten though, she was outmatched from the start, her over reliance on the weapons turned into her downfall.

That said, no one could understand Arata's technique either, not even Arata himself. Although he was more willing to use it now with Naruto's training and Kakashi's advice, it was still a mostly unknown ability he had. Its power was obvious though, if that display was anything to go by.

Only Baki seemed to realize the magnitude of what he was watching, with experience in seeing not one but two of the Kazekage display a similar skill. How Konoha got their hands on such a powerful technique, he did not know, but it only meant that their plans would effectively prevent Arata from going any further.

Suna's honor would be restored.

* * *

When Kakashi excused herself a second time, there was just a minor change from the last time. When she took Sasuke out of the room, she made no inclination for Naruto to follow. This time, it was as if she was baiting him to come with, lingering at the doorway.

To Naruto, that meant she wanted his help.

Leaving the genin of Team 7 under Gai's care, Naruto excused himself to catch up with Kakashi. Knowing her, she was going to check up on Sasuke. It seemed as if Orochimaru gave up too easily, as displayed in his power to subdue the both of them with ease.

If he could do that, why not take Sasuke?

No, he must have had another plan that wouldn't implicate him. It was no secret that Orochimaru had his own network of spies around the world, including inside of Konoha. He might have relegated the task of capturing Sasuke to one of them.

There was no doubt Kakashi put Sasuke under guard considering Orochimaru's interest in him, but would they be enough? If Kakashi was worried enough to return to the room, it meant that whoever it was was strong.

Naruto ran as fast as he could and arrived at the hospital's top floor in no time. He had to guess they were keeping Sasuke in the suite to keep him out of the way, but the carnage in the hallway showed that it wasn't enough. ANBU bodies were scattered all around, it was almost as if they fell without putting up a fight.

That was the first tip off there was danger, but no sign that Kakashi was already inside. The door was left ajar, a body keeping it from closing. Naruto took out his chakra blades and quickly fitted them on, shuffling to the door's edge. He sensed someone running toward the door and leaped out in front, arms up and ready.

Kabuto's ANBU double stopped in its tracks, its escape route cut off. Now it looked between Kakashi and Naruto, unsure of what to do.

Kakashi knew Naruto would follow her, she was actually counting on it. With him surrounded now, Kakashi approached while Naruto entered with his guard up. They couldn't afford to let the spy get away.

Another of the bodies stirred, forcing their attention from one ANBU to another. It threw shuriken at one of the windows and leaped through the weakened glass, leaving Kakashi and Naruto only a moment behind.

Before Naruto could leap out in pursuit, Kakashi stopped him with an outstretched hand. They couldn't afford to run after him, it was too late anyway.

"Kakashi-sensei.." Naruto whispered through barred teeth, realizing the same thing.

She turned to her student, smiling. Even in that situation, she could smile; perhaps more accurately, she could put on a mask.

"Nicely done, Naruto. Without you things might have gotten worse."

"But Kakashi-"

"No point in arguing now." She said in a serious tone, cutting off his argument. "Stay here with Sasuke while I get some help to clean up the mess."

Disappointed, Naruto watched her disappear into the hallway. He looked at Sasuke and had to wonder just what cards fate had dealt the Uchiha to give him that much bad luck. Not only that, he wondered what it meant for Kakashi and the rest of Konoha should they lose him to the darkness.

* * *

_Some time later.._

_Konohagakure_

_Hospital Lobby_

Kakashi had gathered Team 7, minus Sakura, to explain what the training month would be like; the two kunoichi had met earlier and Sakura decided to pursue her own training regardless if she lost or not. Kakashi would take Sasuke while Arata would be taught by Ebisu.

Naruto had joined them at Kakashi's request, although her news was anything but good. He knew she wanted to keep an eye on Sasuke considering Orochimaru's presence, but they wouldn't be able to train together with her focus on him, not to mention she was taking him to the outskirts of Konoha.

"Is that satisfactory? Sasuke, Arata." The two looked between each other, their rivalry still growing.

"Fine by me."

"Let's get to it!"

With them taken care of, she dismissed them to prepare. She then turned to Naruto and gave the best look of apology she could. If things went her way during the exams, she would have trained Naruto side by side with the rest of Team 7. Unfortunately, Orochimaru ruined that.

"Sorry Naruto. You will have to go without me for a month."

Naruto just shook his head, he understood. He didn't like it, but he understood.

"It's alright Kakashi-sensei, I know why." They watched Sasuke leave, concern creasing their expressions.

"This may not be any consolation, but I have a feeling someone else will be able to help you more than me. Keep in touch with Kurenai and Asuma, they should be able to at least get you started."

Naruto may not have been participating in the final exams, but that didn't make his progress any less important. Whether they thought of it that way or not, having a strong jinchuuriki was good for the village as a whole.

"Understood, be careful Kakashi-sensei."

"Don't worry too much Naruto-kun, I can handle myself." She set a hand on his shoulder when a look of regret crossed his eyes. "Thank you though." Her smile made him feel a little better.

They parted ways and Naruto decided that, since he didn't have any other obligations, he would go to the hot springs. He needed to relax after such a stressful past few days. Little did he know that trip to the hot springs would be a lot more eventful than he was expecting.

* * *

_Hot Springs_

"Ah..now this is nice." Naruto had shed his towel and started to relax in a private spring room.

He had no idea the Sarutobi had permanent reservations, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. In the distance he could hear a bunch of women splashing around, gossiping, and giggling. Must have been a party on the other side of the bamboo, not that he would want to know anyway.

He liked girls, sure, but being a pervert about it wasn't his style. Hiruzen taught him better than that..at least he preached it. Sometimes Naruto wondered if his grandfather was as innocent as he made himself out to be. Judging from Asuma's mouth, it was nowhere near the case.

_'No point in dwelling on that right now, let's just relax.'_

Right after he said that and had settled deeper in the hot water, Naruto saw someone perched above the bamboo. He was somewhat clumsily using the walls as both a viewpoint and cover, but his back was totally exposed to Naruto. Maybe he wasn't expecting anyone to see him from the men's side, maybe he expected no one to care.

Naruto for one was not either of those, and the thought of a pervert spying on women bothered him. It bothered him even more when the thought crossed his mind that someone he might know very well, like Kurenai, could be on the other side and this man was getting to see her like that. No, he couldn't have that.

With a combination of speed and finesse, Naruto emerged from the bath and got dressed prematurely. He might not be ruining just his experience in the springs that day with what he was about to do, but it had to be done.

Naruto cracked his knuckles before jumping up onto the wall for himself. Carefully he approached so he didn't get seen by the women bathing or the suspect himself. Then, when he was close enough, Naruto decided to try a technique he had seen Kakashi so aptly demonstrate on Arata numerous times.

"Thousand Years of Pain!"

With a good amount of power, Naruto sent Jiraiya flying with the invasive hit. It forced him into holding his behind in pain and wailing at the top of his lungs.

All the women looked up to see what the commotion was, some of them screaming pervert and running for their towels.

"Oh, is that the cute Uzumaki boy?"

"Is it?"

"Hey, this is the women's bath. Go to your side, pervert!"

"I don't mind, come on in cutie!"

Naruto had accidentally stood up to full height after sending the pervert away, revealing his presence to the women in the bath. He realized his fault and looked away, not seeing anything in particular. Two vocal groups got into an argument over whether he should be allowed to join them or not, much to his embarrassment.

It seemed the women who found Naruto attractive were winning as a collective sigh of disappointment could be heard when Naruto leaped away to catch the escaping Jiraiya.

"Hold it right there pal." Naruto stopped Jiraiya who, albeit was trying to leave the scene, was doing so extremely slowly with hands guarding his rear.

"Hey-hey you're the asshole that hit me in the ass!"

"You were peeping on the women in the bath."

"So, that isn't an excuse to do..this to another man!" He pointed at his butt, clearly incensed.

Naruto placed his hands on his sides, not backing down. It was then that he recognized who the man was from Hiruzen. His grandfather had told him a lot about his students and Naruto could easily identify Jiraiya from the detailed description, right down to his perverted preferences.

"Jiraiya..of the Sannin?"

Upon hearing his title, the old hermit seemed to recover with a knowing smirk. So, his name preceded him even with the younger generation. Understandable, considering his fame reached even the smallest, most influential circles and corners of the world.

"I see you've heard of me, what can I do for such an impressionable young ninja like yourself?" He struck a heroic pose but was quickly rebuked.

"Oh nothing, just making sure I had the right name to report to the Hokage. See ya." Before he could jump away, Jiraiya cried out for him to stop.

"Wait a minute! I can't afford to get caught thi- I mean the Hokage isn't expecting me for a while. Can't we work something out?"

Naruto didn't seem like he was buying it. Jiraiya had to up the ante, even if it meant giving up some of his valuable research time. He supposed it would be worth it to teach Minato's kid something, he owed that much.

"Alright kid, how about this..let me show you a few techniques.."

* * *

_Around a month later.._

_Konohagakure_

_Stadium_

"Nice place.." Naruto walked the stands with Asuma and Kurenai, standing in awe of the building.

He had actually never been there before. The experience was totally unique now that the place was littered with civilians and shinobi alike, waiting impatiently for the matches to start. Most of the genin had already arrived, save for who some argued was the most important, Sasuke Uchiha.

That also meant Kakashi was missing. Naruto had no doubt the two were still training and would arrive on time for the match, all that effort wouldn't be put to waste. For now he was fine with being near his loved ones and trying to enjoy the chaotic atmosphere. Asuma and Kurenai sat down with Naruto in the middle, his eyes flicking over to the Kage viewing area.

The Hokage sat there joined by the Kazekage. Two of the most influential people in the world, Naruto watched in awe, hoping one day he too could sit in that seat.

"Loud isn't it!" Asuma yelled over the din of cheering.

Kurenai didn't much care for it, preferring a calm and quiet viewing instead. She knew it was no better where Hinata and Kiba (or anyone for that matter) were viewing from, so she had to tough it out.

Naruto was somewhat with her, but he could bear it. He wanted to see how Arata and Sasuke did and how the rest of the genin turned out, considering that Naruto missed a majority of the matches.

They watched as Sasuke's match was delayed, forcing them to quickly move to Shikamaru and Temari. The Nara fought well, but in the end he gave up half way on a technicality.

"Come on Shikamaru..you could have finished it." _'That boy needs to learn one of these days he can't leave things half done.'_

"Maybe he really didn't have enough chakra to continue?" Kurenai suggested, trying to keep Asuma from biting his student's head off.

"I think that is Nara laziness, Kurenai-chan." Naruto pointed out with a smile, earning a nod from Asuma.

The next match was one Naruto had been waiting for; Arata vs Neji. These two had some animosity since the academy, but why, Naruto did not know. Seeing a Hyuuga defend against Arata's manipulation technique would be interesting. Since rumors had gone around over what Arata could do, not all the bets were on Neji; the people were loud, anxious to see which one might win.

It turned out to be a bloody close affair, as expected. As things turned out, Arata wasn't a one trick pony, although he did use his kunai attack often to keep Neji on his toes. The Hyuuga's defense was too strong though, which forced Arata to use techniques that resembled tricks or pranks to fight with. He had some skill in stealth, but Neji's eyes nullified that advantage, which forced him to use unconventional methods.

Explosive tags hidden underground, clones, puppet daggers and every type of ninja tool was thrown at Neji but he somehow weathered through. Both of them were dead tired by the end, which as far as Naruto was concerned meant they were closely matched, something Neji had claimed was untrue before the match started.

Arata landed the final blow by using his element to traverse underground undetected, landing a blow on Neji's jaw. It was quiet for a while before Naruto and a few others started clapping, giving way to a roar of applause and other uproar.

Naruto was proud of Arata's progress and knew he could only go forward from there.

Kurenai saw Naruto's look upon the genin's victory and smiled, it was almost as if it was Naruto himself winning—he seemed ecstatic.

Through more delay tactics, Sasuke's match had finally come on as the final event. Through the latest roar of boos came a puff of smoke in the arena. Kakashi had arrived with Sasuke in tow, ready just in time for his match.

Gai quickly met up with her and led her to his side of the stands, giving Naruto a bit of disappointment. He had hoped to be the one to see Kakashi first and fill her in on what happened with Team 7.

"Don't worry so much Naruto.." Asuma held his shoulder, shaking it roughly. "Gai doesn't stand a chance, he just can't see it."

Naruto tried to tell his brother he was wrong but was stunned when Kurenai joined in.

"He's right Naruto, Kakashi isn't interested in Gai whatsoever. I almost feel bad for him."

He knew there was nothing he could say to get them to stop teasing, so he just settled in for the long haul.

Sasuke and Gaara began their fight with nothing extraordinary, although there was something about Gaara that bothered Naruto. It was just a familiar feeling, a sense that there were unseen parallels between the two of them.

It wasn't long before Sasuke over zealously revealed his new technique, the Chidori. Making use of their shared lightning elements, Kakashi must have decided to teach him it hoping it would help him against Orochimaru. Naruto wasn't so sure that was a good idea, Sasuke wasn't as easy to please as she thought.

His aggressiveness in battle was enough to draw the attention of both Kage and many shinobi watching. They wondered if Gaara's dome of sand was enough to hold back the chirping attack. Soon they realized that it was not enough as Sasuke punctured the shield and attacked Gaara, spurring his transformation to occur sooner. That was much to the horror of the present Suna nin, knowing the plan was already on the rocks.

Naruto stood up, Gaara's bloodcurdling scream visibly shaking him. What the hell was going on down there? What was Gaara doing in that ball..it wasn't hard for him to sense a chakra buildup.

Sasuke was forced back as sand spikes launched out in a defensive measure, catching him in the cheek. Before he could formulate a counterattack, Gaara dropped his sand dome and revealed he was already transforming into the inner beast. He made his way out of the arena walls with great speed, leaving Sasuke and the rest of the crowd in surprise.

That was when something odd happened. Naruto watched as all sound left the arena and was replaced by sweet, serene silence coupled with countless feathers tickling his consciousness. It would be enough to lull him into sleep, but Kurenai had taught him to recognize genjutsu like that. He held up a ram hand sign and focused his chakra, dispelling the technique.

"Release!"

Naruto opened his eyes to see an Oto ninja coming right at his face, kunai in hand.

"Naruto!" Asuma yelled, seeing the danger.

In slow motion, Naruto arched his back so that the attack passed harmlessly over his body. With his body low enough to touch the ground, Naruto used his hands as leverage and launched his feet up. They connected with the Oto ninja's stomach sending hm right into the ceiling, unconscious from the impact.

Naruto flipped backward while at the same time revealing his chakra blades, ready to defend himself. He risked a glance behind him and saw Asuma and Kurenai back to back on the stairs, fending off more of the attackers. Quickly he rejoined them, fending off the enemy shinobi as they attacked in waves.

"What the hell is going on?!" Naruto asked as he landed a slice on an Oto chunin before they could get near Kurenai.

"Looks like we're under attack, some sort of genjutsu knocked everyone else out." Asuma replied, breathing in air for a katon technique.

All around them was chaos as leaf and sound attacked one another, blurs sparking above the stands. Smoke covered the Kage stand, preventing them from seeing whether Hiruzen was alright or not. They had a sinking feeling in their stomachs, but watched as ANBU traveled the rooftops in that same direction.

_'Have to leave it to them..' _Naruto and Asuma thought, too preoccupied with their own battles.

The Suna jounin had been cut off from his students by Genma down below. No other Suna shinobi had been seen, but it was safe to say they were in league with Oto.

Sasuke had taken off after Gaara soon after the invasion began, preventing anyone from easily tracking him. Arata and Sakura must have been with Kakashi, they had to be, Naruto hoped.

Aoba leaped onto their stand and made their triangle formation into a square. The tokubetsu jounin used a kunai and katon techniques to keep the enemies at bay while trying to relay intel.

"Looks like the entire village is getting hit, these guys.." He kicked another hooded figure away. "..are everywhere, same with Suna. Hard to tell what their targets are, but it looks like they are after us first."

Made sense, civilians didn't pose any threat in a shinobi village. If you could hunt down the shinobi of the village, the battle and possibly the war was effectively over.

"Most of the fighting is moving away from us I think. Summons are trying to break through the west wall, not sure how long it will hold."

Asuma looked around and saw that the Oto shinobi were focusing their attack at the stadium, meaning whatever they wanted was there. He also saw Kakashi struggling to defend a few genin on her own; Gai seemed to be everywhere at once, but he couldn't help her in time.

"Naruto, go across and help Kakashi. It looks like she needs it!"

Naruto looked at his older brother and saw he was being serious. No more teasing, this was real. They were really in a war and he needed to stay focused if he wanted to stay alive and protect the village. For now, he had to help Kakashi.

"Understood."

"Aoba, Kurenai. We'll hold here and mop up!"

"Understood!"

Naruto leaped over the railing, putting all his power in the jump. Behind him Asuma and the others remained to finish off those Oto shinobi left, but all around him battles raged. It had all happened so fast, Naruto was still trying to process the situation.

_'What the hell is **going on**?!'_

For the third time he had to repeat himself, it felt all the more appropriate.

* * *

Wrote this while I was on the train back home, knew I could find something productive to do. Hope you enjoyed this large chapter as it gets us right into the action. I'm trying to get better at focusing on the more important aspects of my story so that way I can progress faster without as much filler but with the same amount of length.

Be sure to review and tell me what you thought.


	6. Let Me Take Your Burden

Naruto: The Return of Darkness

Chapter 5

Let Me Take Your Burden

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"Speaking"

"_Whisper"_

_'Thinking'_

_Writing/Text_

"**Jutsu**"

"**Tailed Beast/Demonic speak"**

Hello everyone, we are back for some _Return of Darkness_. I'm hoping to keep pushing through this story with the heavy content per chapter. If possible, I would like to get all of my current canon Naruto stories to the Part I intermission and then release the Part II debut chapters all at once.

If everything goes well _Blonde Uchiha _has one large chapter remaining for it, which I will actually write after this is uploaded. Then we will go to _Namikaze Assassin _which has about one or two chapters left in it until Part II.

Really excited as these stories are the first stories I have done from Part I to Part II, since UCR started at the end of Part I. Good stuff to come I think.

Since most didn't get to see the poll after I closed it, the ending revealed that Fuu was the most popular girl on the list. I was quite surprised to see Koyuki Kazahana reach second place after being added late, but all of the girls listed got some sort of vote. The top three or five will be featured as an ending pairing and, while Naruto will meet all of them and more, I will be trying something unique with multiple ending chapters. That means that it isn't a harem, each chapter will be dedicated with one of the girls who are most liked.

This is something I really wished would happen more often in Anime with multiple girls. Hopefully when the story gets to that point, you will enjoy it too.

Let's read.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Stadium_

000

Kakashi had her back against the wall, literally.

When the invasion started, Sakura and Arata were with her watching the matches proceed. The boy had come up from the contestant box to complain to her about Gaara. At first, she ignored his pleas because of Sasuke's overall advantage. When things took a turn for the worse as Sasuke landed the first hit with Chidori, then she knew something might be wrong.

Then the genjutsu kicked in and Arata went out like a light, but Sakura recognized the attack and was able to stay awake. Unfortunately, her skill made her a target.

With her speed, Kakashi was able to keep them off of Sakura and kill a good number. The amount of enemies was too overwhelming though, and she was being forced back. Gai had gone off to pick up the slack in another area, believing Kakashi could handle herself. That much was true, but she had to watch over Sakura too.

_'Dammit Gai..of all times to-'_

Kakashi ducked under a slice that would have hit her face and impaled the enemy with a kunai from below. He toppled over, his lifeless body resting near Arata's prone form. There were too many to face with just knives, she would have to use her chakra.

Two of the Oto shinobi leaped toward Sakura, forcing the jounin's attention away from her own well being. From outside the corner of her vision, a Suna shinobi prepared to deliver a powerful blow. Kakashi was in the middle of twisting her body toward Sakura, lightning chakra crackling in her hand, when reinforcements arrived.

Kunai embedded themselves in the backs of the two Oto shinobi. It sent them down to the ground like dead weights, just a few feet from Sakura. The young genin cowered in fear but looked around for her savior, only to see the enemy behind her sensei.

Kakashi saw Sakura's reaction but knew she wouldn't be able to turn fast enough.

Naruto appeared right in front of Kakashi, his face pressing against her chest. His arms reached around behind her and the faint whine of his chakra blades could be heard. Warm liquid hit her back and neck, and she knew that Naruto had sliced the enemy clean through.

They stayed connected like that for a moment too long, and Naruto stepped back with a slightly red face.

"Sorry, Kakashi.." Kakashi didn't even think twice about it.

She had never been so happy to see a friendly face.

"You saved us, Naruto."

The two Konoha shinobi turned as more Oto and Suna shinobi approached. If they couldn't match quality, the enemies could make up for it in quantity.

Naruto readied his chakra blades while Kakashi grabbed two kunai, one for each hand. It was time for a counterattack. Now that she had a competent partner, they could get something done.

"Time to cut down the enemy numbers. Naruto, you take left."

"Understood!"

A Suna shinobi went through hand signs to prepare a jutsu. They didn't have to worry about collateral damage, a clear advantage over Konoha when it came to ninjutsu. Maybe their techniques would kill civilians or genin, but as long as it killed the enemy, it was worth the sacrifice.

"You guys don't-" Before he could even complete his taunt, Naruto disappeared in a blur and Kakashi released one of her kunai at blinding speed.

The blade impaled the would be jutsu user in the head and, before his partners could realize the danger, the jounin was in the middle of their formation. Her kunai sunk deep into one of their abdomens, right below the iron plate inside the vest. Kakashi's other hand gathered lightning chakra, a lethal amount, and grabbed another one's arm—the man didn't even get to scream in agony before his life left him.

The last one, an Oto shinobi was in the middle of turning to face her when Kakashi pulled her dagger from the enemy's back.

Suddenly, a devastating kick sent him flying out of the stand and into the arena wall on the opposite side. Kakashi saw Naruto recover from the taijutsu strike and noticed that he had gotten done with the left flank; three more enemies lay in a pool of their own blood, left where they dropped.

He was getting better and better. Perhaps there was no better place for Naruto to show his skills than in a war. It bothered her for a moment, as if she thought the boy would remain innocent. Something about Naruto made it seem like he would fit better among friends than covered in blood.

She had to admit though, the tenacious almost feral look he wore during fighting was almost attractive.

"Kakashi!" Gai shouted, landing a few feet away.

A lifeless Oto shinobi hung underneath his arm, his neck broken. The body was discarded as the taijutsu user approached his rival, concern laced in his voice.

"Are you alright? I thought you said you could handle yourself.."

"It was tougher than I expected, I had hoped they would ignore Sakura." Gai looked over and saw the girl hiding behind a few chairs.

"Ah, sorry..I thought it was just you and me." Kakashi looked over the jounin's shoulder and saw Naruto watching the stadium.

Down below, Genma was locked in combat with Baki, the Suna genin team leader. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, nor were any of the other contestants still remaining. He began to fear the worst that the enemy had gotten to them first.

"If it hadn't have been for Naruto, things might not have turned out well." Gai turned to Naruto, but the blonde's mind lay elsewhere.

"Nice work, Naruto-kun. Your manly youth burns brightly once again, protecting Kakashi. Why if I had a medal I would-"

"Gai, enough of that." Kakashi walked past her overbearing friend to stand near the railing.

So, Sasuke had gone off in pursuit of Gaara. Alone, that wouldn't bode well for the Uchiha, regardless of the training they did. It was clear now the red head was important to Suna's war effort and that made fighting him all the more dangerous. They would need to do more than organize a counterattack in the stadium if they wanted to help the village.

Preventing Gaara from escaping seemed to be the task at hand.

"Sakura!" The girl heard her sensei call out to her and watched the older ninja approach. "Wake up Arata, we'll need his help."

While Sakura prepared to dispel the genjutsu affecting her team-mate, Kakashi bit her thumb and began going through hand signs. It would be impossible for them to track down anyone in that chaos, so she would have to bring in an expert. She had just the dog in mind.

"**Kuchiyose!**" Naruto and Gai observed Kakashi's summon reveal itself—a small dog with a blue vest and Konoha hitai-ate tied to its forehead.

At the same time, Arata stirred from his sleep. He seemed to be quite irritated; whether it was from being tricked or woken up was hard to say.

"Eh..what the hell.." He looked around, seeing Sakura first. "Pinky..what the hell's going-" A fist slammed into his forehead and sent him flying back into the opposite wall.

"Idiot! I told you not to call me by that stupid name!" Sakura shook her fist looking so angry at her fellow genin it was almost comedic.

"Ah.." He held his head in the bruising spot. "Why do you have to be so-"

"Arata." Naruto's deep voice called out to him. The blonde had his arms crossed, his face trying its best to retain a serious expression. "Don't finish that sentence. There are bigger things you need to focus on."

"Oh yeah.." He remembered how his vision dimmed after seeing a bunch of feathers, he must have fallen asleep.

"Arata, Sakura. Listen up." Kakashi said, her voice had a sense of urgency to it. "Sasuke has gone after Gaara, alone."

The two genin looked surprised before they both settled on an appropriate emotion. They both knew who Gaara was and just how dangerous he could be, if the demonstration against Lee was anything to go by.

Sakura was appropriately terrified that her crush had gone off alone and could be hurt. She didn't even want to think of any other possibilities.

"_Sasuke.."_ The girl muttered, concerned.

Arata, on the other hand, clenched his fists in anger. There they were preaching about teamwork during the first and second exam and then Sasuke up and leaves them behind. What the hell kind of a team-mate was he? Maybe they didn't get along so well in the academy because they were so different, but they were shinobi now. They were supposed to work together, because if they didn't it could be the difference between life or death.

If Sasuke kept up with reckless actions like that, he might end up on the 'dead' side. Not that Arata could say much to reckless actions, but still.

"Baka, what the hell was that guy thinking.."

"Oi, both of you. Now isn't the time to think about pointless things." Naruto shouted at them, taking on the sudden role of a leader. "If you want to do something useful for Sasuke and the village, listen up."

Kakashi and Gai could barely hide their smiles. It wasn't often a chunin, especially a new one like Naruto, showed any kind of backbone when it came to leadership. The teamwork exercises Team 7 had participated in with him must have made him feel particularly attached to their well being.

It also meant he knew when they were listening and when they were wasting time.

"Thank you, Naruto." Kakashi said, her hand resting on his shoulder; she turned to her students who waited for orders.

"Pakkun will guide you two to Sasuke, where you all will work together to fight Gaara." The dog nodded, his nose already locked on the scent. "This is an A-rank mission, so act like it. Don't do anything stupid. Arata, I mean you."

The tanned boy scratched his cheek bashfully. Sure, he wasn't the most cautious genin in the world. He liked to take risks, it was in his blood. Living off the streets of Konoha with nothing but the clothes on your back did that to a person.

"Don't worry sensei, I'll keep an eye on him." Sakura said, a bawled fist raised high in the air.

"Good, now.." Kakashi looked at her ninken and nodded. "Pakkun, go!"

On cue, Gai created a gaping hole in the wall behind them. Not wasting any time to gawk, the tracker dog and Haruno ran out into the village. Arata soon followed with a not so gentle push from Naruto.

Now that the younger ninja were on the move and away from immediate harm, the three left turned back to the rest of the stadium. The fighting had slackened since the onset of the invasion, and it seemed as if Konoha was starting to turn things around. In the distance they could see Kurenai and Aoba finishing off the last of their enemies, but Asuma was out of sight.

A slight tinge of concern crossed Naruto's mind, but he knew his brother was tough enough to handle the enemy. The fighting wasn't only in the stadium after all, and the rest of the village needed all the help it could get.

"We need to focus on cleaning up here." Kakashi said, her eye seemed to dance around as it tried to count the enemies remaining.

"Look, Kakashi! Enemy reinforcements." Suna shinobi landed on the rooftop of the stadium as they too began to count the number of hostiles still alive.

"Well, let's give them a warm welcome!" Naruto jumped onto the guardrail and began to go through hand signs. "Kakashi-sensei, care to join in?"

She smirked and began going through her own seals, catching onto the blonde's idea.

"**Fūton: Daitoppa!**"

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!**"

As if it was right out of their nature training exercise, the student and mentor pulled off a perfect wind-fire combo. Naruto's gust of air was guided by his hands, leading it straight for the platoon of enemy shinobi. Just as the first wave hit them, the fire enveloped the attack and created a maelstrom inferno that burned the bodies to a crisp.

"Oh, nice combo!" Gai gave them a thumbs up and iconic smile.

When more enemies began to swarm them, it seemed they agreed with the sentiment. It was so nice that they needed to be stopped, immediately.

Naruto revealed his trench knives and launched into the air, meeting the enemy half way. Their weapons clashed and metal sparked, but the Oto shinobi only had one kunai to block with. The blonde was easily able to avoid their sloppy guard as the two tumbled in midair down to the arena floor. He cut a deep gash into his opponent's stomach.

"Guh!" Naruto's adversary groaned in pain as the blonde oriented himself so that his feet were touching the enemy's chest.

"See ya." Naruto kicked off with all his might to send himself back into the air.

The power behind his legs sent the already dying Oto-nin into the ground, creating a small crater from the impact.

Kakashi and Gai on the other hand let the enemy come to them, throwing kunai at their vulnerable position in the air. A few went down, but most were able to land on their viewing platform and engaged the two in close combat. Many of them discovered too late that it was they whom were at a disadvantage against Gai's strength and Kakashi's speed.

"**Gōken!**" The bowl cut jounin sent a devastating punch to an enemy's jaw that sent them into the already battered stone wall.

Gai leaned back and easily avoided an overextended kunai thrust, at the same time grabbing the enemy's collar. With great strength he threw the Oto-nin at his fellows, creating an impromptu bowling session. The entire enemy formation was sent flying, much to Gai's happiness.

"I think that.." He paused for dramatic effect, his smile threatening to blind any who gaze upon it. "..was a strike."

"Quit messing around, Gai!" Kakashi growled as she held a Suna shinobi in a headlock.

With one quick movement of the arm, his neck was broken. She dropped the body to the floor and twisted around with lightning fast speed, ducking underneath a wind attack. Kakashi sent a devastating kick to the enemy's stomach that sent them flying through the hole Gai made in the wall.

Another one, a particularly large Sound ninja, came barreling toward her with the intent to kill. Before she could even get into a guard stance the man's eyes widened and he fell to his knees. In his back was a number of shuriken and kunai, and even farther behind him was Naruto with his hands in the snake seal.

_'Must be his weapon manipulation technique..'_ Kakashi thought, lowering her kunai for a moment.

Naruto smiled at his teacher, reassuring her he was watching her back. He was surprised when she quickly brought up her kunai and threw it at him. It sailed over his head and some blood spilled on his back. He turned to see a Suna ninja now toppling over, the knife stuck in his neck.

"That makes us even.." Kakashi gave him a smile. "..for now at least."

The three Konoha shinobi rallied together and watched as Kurenai and Aoba made it over to their side. The two jounin looked like they had it tough holding down their end of the stadium, cuts and soot littered their uniforms.

"Kurenai-sensei, where's Asuma?" Naruto asked, grabbing her attention.

"He went after Shikamaru, who was apparently dragged after Sasuke by Shino. Speaking of whom.." The genjutsu mistress looked around for a moment. "Kakashi, where are your students? I thought they were with you."

"I sent them after Sasuke to act as reinforcements, but I'm glad they'll have help. There is no telling what they might be going up against."

Gai looked at Aoba with an inquisitive gaze. If anyone had information on the battle they didn't already know, it would be him.

The tokubetsu jounin noticed his look and tried to collect his thoughts.

"As far as I know, Jiraiya-sama is mounting the defense against the enemy summons to the west. There also seems to be an effective counterattack happening with the Ino-Shika-Cho group leading the charge. No telling when help will get here though."

Baki and Genma had already fallen back, their fight long since a stalemate. From what they could tell, they were the only shinobi still awake, or alive for that matter in the stadium outside of the ANBU and Kage.

"Let's get to higher ground, perhaps we can get a better understanding of the situation." Gai suggested, to which the rest agreed.

The Konoha shinobi leaped up onto the roof and got a better view of their village. More specifically, they got a better look at the damage. All around smoke and fire erupted from the buildings down below. Figures ran to and from the buildings, either there to help or harm. All the civilians should have been evacuated by now and that meant they could take the enemy on full force.

Off in the distance, they could see what looked like three large snakes fighting against an equally large toad. It seemed Jiraiya had already made an entrance.

A faint rumbling turned their attention toward where the village ended and a vast forest began. It was in the general direction that Pakkun and the rest had gone in, which immediately concerned Naruto and Kakashi. That was when they saw some sort of beige creature emerge from the trees and tower over the area.

"What the hell is that?" Aoba asked out loud.

"Dunno, it isn't ours. Right?" Kurenai was equally confused, she had never seen anything like it.

"Looks like..sand." Gai muttered, holding his chin in thought.

_'Gaara..'_ Naruto's mind flashed and he realized that there was more to that genin than he had first thought.

_'Does this mean he's..like me?'_

Kyuubi remained silent as his jinchuuriki tried to figure out the answer. So far, the blonde had demonstrated enough skill that the beast didn't try to interfere much with his affairs. On occasions when it knew the kid would have trouble, the fox would flood his system with chakra, but otherwise remained content to sit and watch.

There was no better way for Naruto to learn than to figure things out for himself. Besides, it was entertaining to watch his human brain try to comprehend such simple things.

"That thing.." He muttered, putting the pieces together. "It means Sasuke and the others failed to stop Gaara."

The older shinobi looked at him in surprise, how did he know that? It was like he actually knew what that thing was.

"Naruto, explain." Kakashi asked in an even tone.

She had come to rely on his judgment in battle. He might have been a bit excitable and aggressive, but when it came to situations like that Kakashi knew he had a good reason to say something.

"Gaara, I think he's a jinchuuriki like me. And that.." He pointed to the large monstrosity as it smashed its tail into the ground. "..is what his tailed beast looks like."

Considering the Suna genin's unique abilities and raw power, it was a possibility. Not only that, but it was hard to miss the familiar feeling of such a dark, negative chakra release. Those who had seen a tailed beast or had been in one's vicinity could easily recognize the killing intent, the literal pressure it put on them.

"This could get dangerous.." Kurenai murmured, concern gripping her.

Aoba and Gai were equally speechless as they tried to comprehend the situation. Only Naruto and Kakashi seemed to show any form of calm or preparedness.

"Kakashi.." Naruto looked at her, worry creasing his brow. "Arata and Sakura..they are in danger, along with the rest of them. We have to do something."

It would be too irrational to just run off in an attempt to help without knowing all the facts. Before she could try to ease Naruto's conscience, the blonde made up his own mind. That was when she cursed his aggressively protective emotions.

Naruto leaped from the rooftop and headed straight for the towering Shukaku, ignoring the shouts coming from behind. There was no way he could leave Team 7 and the others defenseless. With the techniques he had learned, there must have been something he could do.

"Naruto!" Kakashi swore and leaped after him, but was forced to stop on a nearby rooftop as more Oto and Suna shinobi showed up.

They effectively separated the two groups, leaving Naruto to fend for himself. Whatever help he planned to lend Sasuke and the others, it would have to be enough.

It was Kakashi's duty to protect Naruto and it only frustrated her more that she was being stopped by these obstacles. Gathering lightning chakra again, she sent the enemy a deadly glare as she readied her sharingan.

"Out of my way!"

The two sides charged one another with the intent to kill. Their battle was just beginning, but Arata's was just finishing up.

000

It wasn't long in their pursuit of Sasuke that Pakkun told them they were being followed. Of course, the enemy wouldn't let them escape so easily. For a while they tried to outrun them, but the other group was large and well conditioned for pursuit tactics. If they kept going at the speed they were moving, Sakura and Arata would be overwhelmed.

That was when he volunteered to stay behind.

His team-mate tried to protest, but he knew that if anyone had a chance of stopping them, it was himself. No offense to Sakura, but she wasn't cut out for combat. That had become apparent since the second exam, regardless of her ability to fend off the sound shinobi.

Besides, Arata had a plan to go with his trump card. In an odd tactic, he began to litter the ground and surrounding area with his kunai and shuriken. After he had emptied his thigh and waist pouch of all the weapons, save for one kunai, he waited in the forest clearing.

Sure enough, the Oto battalion took his challenge and eight of them appeared just a few feet away. They took in the sights, baffled at the appearance of so much weaponry. Not just that, they couldn't see any obvious tactic he could have as none of the weapons seemed to be booby trapped.

"Alright kid, looks like its the end of the line for you." Arata smirked as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I think you guys are a little overconfident. You are outnumbered after all." They couldn't hold back their laughter, this genin made a good jokester.

"Good one. Next time you'll tell us Konoha's kinjutsu."

Arata slowly raised his hands above his head, smiling as he did so.

"Well, I don't know about any of that stuff..but let me show you a real trick."

If they were paying any attention, the sound shinobi would have noticed the weapons were beginning to move on their own. They approached Arata, one revealed a kunai that he planned to drive deep into the kid. He didn't know why Suna wanted him dead, but apparently Orochimaru said the same thing.

An order was an order.

"Time to die!" The Oto shinobi was right in front of him, about ready to send the kunai straight into his skull.

"**Gorotsuki no Tetsubuy****ō****!**" Having finally given a name to the technique, Arata decided to give it an appropriate christening.

Blood stained the forest floor as the Oto shinobi found themselves impaled with dozens of iron projectiles. They fell, altogether, to the ground with an assortment of grunts of pain or exasperated sighs. That was what happened when you underestimated an enemy shinobi.

Arata fell to his knees, his chakra almost completely drained. It was just like the time he fought Tenten and controlled her dozens and dozens of weapons—his chakra suffered greatly. There was little chance he could gather the strength to keep going and help Sakura, but..

He had to try!

"Going somewhere, brat?" The cold voice froze his entire body.

There must have been another enemy shinobi, waiting in the distance in case something went wrong. Now that the genin had thoroughly exhausted himself, the ninja showed himself. He had his own weapon ready and was not about to let the kid try the same technique.

_'So this is it yeah?'_ Arata wore a sad smile, trying to find something to regret so he could feel as cliche as possible. _'Well, guess I can regret not getting to see Kakashi-sensei naked. I mean, come on. How Sasuke can just ignore that-'_

"Arata, GET DOWN!" Snapped from his lecherous thoughts, the kid did as the commanding voice said and covered his head.

Naruto appeared on top of the genin's back, arms tucked in to his chest. With speed the enemy couldn't follow, he sent his arms flying out with the blades cutting deep into the Oto shinobi's chest. That was when they tried to retreat by leaping back.

"Agh! You bast-" His eyes widened as Naruto's speed proved greater and the wind blades made a cutting motion for his neck.

That was the last thing the enemy saw before his own head went flying, separated from its body. Naruto stored his weapons and ran back to check on Arata, who was hyperventilating in fear.

"Calm down, Sato. The battle's over."

"Y-yeah..I know.." Arata cursed himself, trying to control his breathing was surprisingly difficult.

"Oi..you shouldn't worry about me..Sakura..and Sasuke..are in trouble." He wheezed out, surprising Naruto with his selflessness.

"Yeah, I'll go save them as soon as you calm down." Naruto's hand rested comfortably on his back in an attempt to ease his tension.

After a little while, Arata had gotten himself back under control. Naruto gave him instructions on where to fall back to before continuing on. They had little time to waste on pleasantries.

Arata did wish him luck before he left. Knowing the monster that laid ahead, Naruto would need it.

As it turned out, Naruto had more than just a bit of luck on his side.

000

_A few days later.._

_Konohagakure_

000

"We have need of a leader right now, Jiraiya. If you won't do it, who will?"

"Well..if you have to have a Sannin, I _suppose _I can get you one."

It would be a boring mission, but seeing Tsunade may give him more _research_ than he could handle. Besides, it was the least he could do after the Third sacrificed himself in battle. If Jiraiya had taken the situation in Konoha a bit more seriously, there would have been a chance the entire conflict could have been avoided.

At least, that was what he liked to tell himself.

"Tsunade?" Koharu questioned with Homura by her side, looking equally curious.

It was true she would be an invaluable asset to the village, but first she would have to be willing to return. Not only did her stubbornness play an issue but no one knew where she was. Ever since the death of her loved ones she had slowly lost confidence in the village until she finally gave up and left. A pitiful display by the council's opinion, but they couldn't very well stop such an influential and powerful kunoichi like Tsunade.

"After all the casualties we sustained, she's almost a necessity right?" Jiraiya asked, rhetorically. "Well, I'll get her back for you. I was planning on leaving soon anyway."

Homura deliberated with himself for a moment before looking at Jiraiya with a careful gaze.

"Very well Jiraiya, but we will send an ANBU platoon to support the mission. It is of the utmost importance to the village it succeeds."

That did not sound good, at all. A group of porcelain masked babysitters, babysitting one of the Sannin of all people? What would it do to his reputation?!

If you asked someone else, they might say it couldn't be made worse.

"Ah, no thanks." He waved his hand in front of them, shaking his head.

An idea formed in his head though, and with a conniving smirk he looked at the annoyed council. There was no way they could refuse him considering the favor he was doing them.

"There is one guy I wouldn't mind taking along, if it's alright with you."

The two elders waited there impatiently through his dramatic pause Jiraiya had created. They were glad that they did not have to deal with the toad sage when he was a child. He was already bad enough to drive them slowly senile.

"Naruto Uzumaki. What do you say?"

Their faces hardened, surprising the Sannin. If anything he expected them to be happy to get rid of the kid.

"I'm afraid we will have to deny that request."

Jiraiya practically flopped over in distress. Confusion laced his features as Koharu delivered the statement with nothing but truth.

"Why?!" Was all he could think to blurt out.

Homura responded for his partner as he hoped to finish this silly conversation as soon as possible.

"Naruto Uzumaki has proven to be a capable Chunin and served the village well during the invasion. Surely you heard of his actions in the stadium and the defeat of Suna no Gaara, the Ichibi container?" Jiraiya nodded, hell he probably saw all of it from the top of his summon.

Koharu nodded, the jinchuuriki was becoming a powerful shinobi. He would be an effective deterrent to war in Konoha's weakened state which would require him to stay inside the village. There was also the chance of him being harmed if taken out of the village which was something they could not allow to happen.

Ironically, the Kyuubi was the Leaf's guardian in harsh times like those.

"You have got to be kidding me.." Jiraiya held his head in his hand, trying to figure out a way to talk them out of it.

"So, we will arrange the ANBU platoon to meet with you within the hour. Don't waste any time."

Well, that conversation ended quickly.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Will of Fire Monument_

000

_Naruto and dozens of other shinobi attended the Sandaime's funeral. All of them wore dark clothing of some sort, their heads bowed in respect. The eyes of those there could not bear to look upon the Sandaime's face, for they knew if they did, tears would be inescapable._

_The sky filled with dark clouds as it began to rain. It seemed even Kami wept for the village hidden in the leaves._

_Asuma and Kurenai stood on either side of Naruto in the front row of shinobi. One by one, they all went up and placed a white lily on his memorial. It was heartbreaking to think that the man so many had looked up to as not just a leader, but a father or grandfather, was dead._

_Yes he died protecting the village and would be remembered forever with honor, but what of the feelings he left behind?_

_Naruto couldn't take it and began to quietly sob as tears fell from his eyes. Some noticed and all were sympathetic as they could barely hold back the same feeling. _

_Asuma stood there, resolute. He was putting on a strong act but for those close to him, they knew he was close to breaking. In front him, with his hands on either shoulder, stood Konohamaru. The boy had been crying before they had even arrived and found little solace in his uncle's arms._

_Kurenai saw her little brother begin to cry and motioned to comfort him. It was already difficult enough for her to bear—what Naruto must have been going through was surely worse._

_'The only man to take me in and now..and now he's dead. My grandfather is dead..what the hell did I train so hard for?' He felt like giving up._

_Hiruzen had always been there, watching him from a distance. Whenever he would falter, Hiruzen would be there to get him back on his feet with a word of advice. If there was ever indecision in Naruto's actions, Hiruzen would have been there to guide him._

_Now it was all gone._

_His fists bawled in pain. It would be difficult to ignore, this pain in his chest. It was the hardest pain to mend after all._

_An arm wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him backward. He opened his eyes to see a flash of silver and then nothing but black as his face was enveloped in cloth._

_Kakashi's left arm held Naruto close to her body while her right hand held the back of his head. She was unable to watch him cry alone, her face softening with a familiar sense of sympathy. After all, it was impossible for her to forget all those that had passed before her. All the mistakes she made that led to those close to her dying, one by one._

_If she could help it, she wouldn't let Naruto fall that far. Not alone._

"_It's okay, Naruto." She whispered into his ear, taking on an almost motherly tone. "The Sandaime's will lives on..in all of us."_

_Naruto's arms wrapped around Kakashi's slender frame, trying to find comfort in her warmth. The pain in his chest slowly began to recede as the two remained connected. Was this why the Third was so adamant they work together? Did he know something like this would happen?_

_The sun began to emerge, peeking over the Hokage monument. Kakashi looked up and smiled._

"_This is his legacy."_

000

"It was an amazing feeling.." Naruto smiled, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "I never thought Kakashi-sensei would do that. She really made me feel better."

_'What was it though? I just felt so..comfortable..like I could stay there forever.'_ Naruto shook his head clear.

He stood in front of the Will of Fire monument, in which the village's Hokage were buried. In front of him the picture of the Third stared resolutely back at him. It was as if the conversation was the most important thing in the world.

Well, it meant a lot to Naruto to get the story off of his chest.

"I just wanted to say thanks..for everything." Naruto bowed before producing a big smile. "I won't let you down, I promise."

With that, Naruto turned on his heel and left the memorial. As much as he would have liked to spend the day there, he was sure there was something to do around the village. He had been working hard along with many other shinobi to rebuild, though their numbers had slackened. Konoha had missions to fulfill after all and they couldn't afford to refuse any of them.

That said, Naruto seemed to be exempt from any kind of work outside of the walls. It was an odd thing, especially for a chunin.

He walked the village streets and passed many civilians busying about. They were now the primary workforce in rebuilding that which was destroyed. Homes were prioritized first, then the merchant district and all that remained after. The shinobi had ensured in the opening few days of rebuilding that the military infrastructure was quickly rebuilt, which included the demolished west wall.

It felt like there was more he could be doing, but everywhere he looked it seemed everything was fixed. The progress was astounding. To Naruto, that said something about the resilience of the Leaf—not just the shinobi but the people too.

From this realization came a proud smile that adorned his face as he walked to an unknown destination. The Third had left behind a legacy to be proud of, he thought. His good mood came crashing down when a deep, familiar voice addressed him from behind.

"Oi, what the hell are you smiling about?" Niko was standing there, hands in pocket.

He was actually smiling, of all things. Naruto didn't share his sentiments, scowling. Hopefully the jounin would get the hint to leave him alone, but it seemed he had other plans.

"I'm not here to fight if that's what you were thinking." Naruto's guard failed to relax which made the man frown.

Wasn't it obvious appearing before the blonde was hard enough? It would have been easier to just fight the kid, he was starting to think.

"Listen.." He combed his pink hair nervously, eyes staring away from Naruto. "I wanted to..apologize for what I said before."

Naruto's eyes widened, he was not expecting that.

"What you did..during the attack..that was something no one else could have pulled off." Niko admitted, his gray eyes filled with envy and a tinge of respect. "That was something a true Konoha shinobi would do. Sorry for saying the things I did."

He informally bowed his head in apology, it was the most he could get himself to do. Regretful or not, Niko still had some pride in his (older) age.

Naruto was no longer frowning, his face neutral. It wouldn't be right to continue the conflict after Niko's apology. Something told him that he was telling the truth.

"I appreciate you saying this..but do me a favor." Niko looked at the blonde, listening. "Apologize to Kakashi, not me."

The older man frowned but nodded. He had disrespected Kakashi with his conduct and the least he could do was repay Naruto by following through.

Before they could part, an exasperated Ebisu came down from one of the rooftops in between them. It was as if he had seen a ghost with how fast he must have been running. The two other shinobi looked at him with concern, but he delayed no longer in telling them his message.

"The village..has been infiltrated!" Their eyes widened and suddenly their guard went up. "Kakashi and the others fought them off, but she's in the hospital."

Naruto was frozen, unable to think or say anything. Kakashi, in the hospital? Who had the power to do that? Better yet, where were they so he could kill them himself.

"Infiltrated? What the hell are the ANBU doing?!" Niko shouted in anger with Ebisu turning to him.

"Niko, I came to find you and all the other jounin scattered around. There is an emergency meeting being held in the lounge, we are trying to decide how to proceed." The pink headed man nodded and, before leaving, gave a comforting nod to Naruto.

It must have been the toughest on him.

"Naruto." Ebisu turned to him, pressing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "The elders have asked that you remain on standby until further notice. You might be part of the counter-response unit."

Unfortunately, the village's jounin and chunin were in short supply. Naruto wasn't the strongest ninja in the village, but he was respectable enough for them to consider him for the mission. Not only that, but they had but the faintest idea of who the attackers were or what their organization wanted, and by putting Naruto in the group, they might confirm many suspicions.

"Understood. I'll be at the hospital." The tokubetsu jounin nodded before taking off to find more available shinobi.

He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but there was no way he could leave Kakashi alone. Not after the Third's death, not after the tears he shed.

Not another precious person would be taken from him.

000

_Konohagakure_

_Hospital_

000

"Kakashi!" The medical ninja attending to the comatose woman turned around in surprise.

Naruto burst into the room and saw the sorry state the jounin was in. Concern washed over him as he rushed to her bed side, giving the medics little space to maneuver.

Luckily, they had done most of what could be done already and were about ready to leave. It looked like Naruto needed some alone time after all.

"What happened to her?" He asked, his voice quickly losing emotion.

Inside, his body felt like it was being twisted around a knife.

"Severe mental exhaustion, most likely from sort of torture technique that affected the mind." Torture?

The word sat on Naruto's tongue like poison.

"Will..will she.." He couldn't even finish a damn sentence, he was so scared.

"We have done all we can for her..it is up to her mind to rest and recover on its own." That meant there was no telling how long she would be out.

Naruto's fists wanted something to punch, but he immediately relaxed as the jounin shifted in her deep sleep. To calm down, he chose to focus his eyes on her. Past the condition she was in, just Kakashi as she was.

Her vest had been removed, leaving her in the tight blue shirt she usually wore. The silver hair he had been so entranced by lay flat and scattered on the pillow beneath her head. Kakashi's left eye, usually covered by her hitai-ate was revealed but closed. The arms that had held him so tightly now lay limp at her sides.

"Kakashi.." Naruto sat down in a nearby chair, just a few inches from her side.

Hesitantly, he took her hand in both of his and was shocked at how cold she was. There was no way she was..gone, right? The monitors nearby reminded him she was still alive, much to his relief.

Naruto couldn't think of anything to say, so he continued to sit there for what felt like hours. The uncomfortable silence was only broken by the consistent beep of the medical equipment and the soft breathing that came from the two occupants.

Finally, Naruto sighed and looked down at the ground to avoid watching her. It was like something was mocking him for his weakness every time he looked at her face. This was torture, but he wouldn't leave. No, he _couldn't_ leave her side.

"I'm sorry..Kakashi.." He bit his lip, enough to make it bleed.

The door opened but he didn't bother to look who it was. Multiple footsteps told him it must have been important, but he couldn't summon the energy to check the new arrivals. It was like Kakashi's touch was a sweet poison, sapping him of strength.

"Naruto-kun!" Gai shouted, a few feet from the bed.

At his flanks were Asuma and Kurenai and both looked wounded in some way. The Sarutobi's left arm was recently bandaged and Kurenai had a slight limp. It was enough to bring at least a little of Naruto's attention away from the bedridden jounin.

"What?" He asked, still finding it hard to articulate words.

"We've been ordered to pursue Kakashi's attackers. They made sure we had to include you, so come on!" The taijutsu master was surprisingly serious, his chipper attitude nonexistent.

That was alright though because Naruto had finally found strength enough to stand. He would pay them back for what they did to Kakashi. It seemed the heavens were smiling upon him by gifting him this chance.

"Not just that..Sasuke Uchiha has left the village in pursuit of one of them. We need to make sure he remains out of harm's way." Kurenai added after receiving the hasty briefing.

Naruto joined them by the door, surprise registering on his face. Sasuke had gone after them? Why?

"Do we know who these guys are?" Naruto asked and the jounins' faces seemed to darken.

"Kisame Hoshigaki of the Mist.." Asuma announced, his frown turning into a scowl with the next name. "..and Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf. Both are nuke-nin and highly dangerous."

If Naruto had been surprised before, he was shocked now. Itachi Uchiha? The infamous Uchiha that left the village shortly after the massacre of his clan? Sasuke was his little brother and it seemed there was some seriously bad blood between them.

An odd sense of custodial responsibility came over Naruto, his eyes turning back to Kakashi. Whether he liked it or not, Naruto was part of Team 7. He had a duty to watch over them when Kakashi wasn't around. If Sasuke was in danger that meant he would have to do something about that.

How could he face the jounin if he failed to protect one of her students? He shuddered at the thought.

"Come on, we need to move fast if we want to reach them in time." Gai urged, indicating he follow them.

The jounin took off down the hallway leaving Naruto alone in the room. He laid one last look upon Kakashi, the woman who had given him strength in his worst times of need. It was Kakashi that had put all her faith in him when others would have abandoned him. Thanks to her, he was a powerful shinobi worthy of the Third's legacy.

"I'll be back soon, Kakashi." His eyes hardened. "Just rest for a while and let me take a bit of your burden."

Naruto ran out of the room in an attempt to catch up with the others. He wasn't about to let Itachi and Kisame get away with what they did to her. They would have to pay a heavy price—whether it be now or some time in the future, he would have revenge.

000

Unfortunately, I had to stop it there to ensure the next chapter would have some proper meat to it. I believe I can finish up Part I the next time we meet in which there will be a short intermission, as stated previously.

Now some of you may be disappointed I skipped the Naruto/Gaara fight, but I did it for multiple reasons. One, it went quite similar to the manga/anime, other than Naruto's appearance being different perhaps. Not only that, but it was done as a plot device. Maybe as the story goes on you will start to pick up on this recurring theme that has to do with Naruto excluding himself or purposely not being in certain gatherings or groups or even situations.

Don't get angry at me for making the same request so soon, but if you are interested in any of my future stories that will be created after this one, go to my profile and vote in the poll. Pick the one you think is most interesting! The story summaries are inside of my profile under future plans. This will be the last poll for a while, I swear!

Last request?

Review!


	7. Awakening

Naruto: The Return of Darkness

Chapter 6

Awakening

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"Speaking"

"_Whisper"_

_'Thinking'_

_Writing/Text_

"**Jutsu**"

"**Tailed Beast/Demonic speak"**

Back for another chapter of _Return of Darkness_. Next chapter will see to the finale of Part I and form a bridge to Part II! For now though, hope you enjoy this baby chapter I struggled to write.

For anyone curious about what Arata's mouthful of a technique name meant, it was supposed to roughly translate to 'Punk's iron dance', which comes from Arata's background as an urchin and the way he makes the weapons dance in midair. It will be shortened for future iterations.

Let's read.

000

_Hi no Kuni_

000

"Sasuke...did you really think this would be enough?"

Lightning crackled, but found itself restrained by a greater power. Sasuke's wrist was held in a tight embrace by Itachi. The boy had gotten stronger, but it was not anywhere near what his brother wanted.

A new crack echoed through the forest and Sasuke screamed in pain as his wrist was broken. He was sent flying as Itachi kicked him straight in the gut, which sent him sailing through the trees.

The two Akatsuki members watched him fly back, and Itachi thought back to how they got into that situation. They had been trying to leave the area around Konoha when Sasuke tracked them down.

Their fight with Kakashi didn't last long but it was enough for Itachi that it warranted a temporary retreat. Considering the knowledge she had on Akatsuki, presumably from Jiraiya, the elder Uchiha had wanted to capture her. Timely reinforcements kept them from doing that, and he had a feeling that Sasuke would not be the last to pursue them.

Kisame hoped that was the case as he had barely gotten started by the time Gai arrived. He wanted to see what the Leaf had to offer, but deferred to Itachi's judgment and left with him. Somehow, Itachi always knew when something bad was about to happen.

That was why Kisame was so surprised with what happened next.

"Hiyah!" Gai shouted as he grabbed Sasuke in mid-air and leaped back a bit.

He set the Uchiha boy down to lean against a large tree trunk before returning his eyes to the Akatsuki present. It was a dangerous situation in they were in, dealing with Itachi; his partner was a well known criminal from the Mist, which meant he would also be a tough fight.

There was no time to be messing around the jounin figured, and he stood up to full height with a serious look in his eye.

From behind the tree came Asuma and Kurenai, their eyes locked on the enemy. It was time for a little payback.

The leaf ninja formed up with each other and prepared themselves to face off against the others.

"You three again.." Kisame's smile belied the aggression building within him.

He was glad they showed up again, he wasn't done with them either. His hand rested on the wrapped sword that hung from his back, ready to go.

Samehada growled in hunger, as if it sensed something interesting. Unfortunately, its master had different prey in mind and did not pay attention to the warning.

"I thought the Leaf would exercise a bit of caution with its ninja after the conflict with Suna. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking." Itachi said in a bored, condescending tone.

Asuma growled, his hands clinched around his chakra blades.

"Funny, coming from a traitor, that doesn't sound right." His eyes narrowed. "You thought we were going to let you get away with what you did to Kakashi?"

Itachi met his glare with the sharingan, his next statement felt like it was made of ice.

"That's nothing compared to what will happen to you, if you don't move out of our way."

"You caught us off guard the first time with your attack, but now we know how you operate." Kurenai warned, readying a kunai. "Things won't go your way."

Gai knew they could talk threats all day, but they had to be able to back them up some time.

"_Remember, don't look into his eyes!"_ He grunted to the other two who nodded in understanding.

With that, Gai settled into his preferred stance of taijutsu and waited for the battle to begin. There was a reason they allowed the meeting to happen in that spot after all, aside from Sasuke's convenient landing.

_'Come on Naruto, it's your turn!'_

From behind the tree, Naruto formed the ram hand sign and focused his chakra.

"_Katsu."_

Hidden with a combination of genjutsu and careful skill, a dozen explosive tags ignited at once underneath the feet of the Akatsuki pair. With only the small sound of sizzling in the air to the warn them, the explosives went off a moment later. A firestorm enveloped the enemies and prevented the leaf shinobi from confirming their deaths as the heat and flames were too intense.

There was a moment of quiet that settled over the forest as the attack settled to reveal a large crater, billowing black smoke into the sky. None of them were particularly skilled sensors, but the strength of the attack meant that if the two enemies had been caught in it, there was little chance they survived. Now, if they could only confirm it.

A roar emerged from within the black cloud and a smirking Kisame came charging toward the trio, looking no worse for wear. His large blade rested over his shoulder as he came right for Asuma and Kurenai, intent on finishing their fight from before.

Asuma cursed and knew he had to buy time for Naruto and Kurenai to prepare. He created a thin bit of wind chakra around his blades and blocked the aggressive strike before it could hit Kurenai.

"Hehehe..nice attack there, we almost didn't see it coming."

"Bastard.."

As they began a contest of strength, the genjutsu mistress went through hand signs and quickly disappeared. Kisame cursed when he realized the woman was already using her chakra to affect his bodily senses, as his sight and smell became useless. He would have to rely on Itachi to defeat her, but his partner had another problem to worry about.

Itachi weaved in and out of strikes launched by Gai. They were just behind the pillar of smoke so that they were obscured from the others' view. There would be no support for either of them as long as the Leaf could keep up the pressure.

Another kick forced Itachi to retreat to a safe distance, but he realized he had to buy himself more time than that if he wanted to stay out of Gai's reach. His hidden arm came out of his sleeve with a full hand of shuriken, a weapon that the Uchiha was well versed in. He released them toward Gai who was forced to stop his attack mid-step to dodge.

Before the shuriken could pursue, however, they abruptly changed course and came after Itachi instead. His sharingan swirled in response as he tracked the projectiles and knocked them away with a single kunai. The chakra buildup used to control the weapons was slow and very controlled, it was no wonder his eyes had a difficult time seeing the attack.

_'Whoever did that knows their Fūton techniques.'_

His opponent did not let up though, despite the moment of rest the attack offered. Itachi was again forced on the defensive as Gai kept on him, his attacks becoming faster and stronger by the second. It wouldn't do well for him to get hit by one of those kicks, or punches for that matter.

In the mean time, Kurenai was finally able to bring her talent to bear on Kisame as she entrapped him in a genjutsu attack. His body stopped moving as his mind made him believe a large tree had wrapped itself around him. Without Itachi's counsel, there was no way he could escape from the attack.

Asuma's distraction had paid off and the jounin was given a moment of respite. He allowed Kurenai the final blow with her kunai and he had faith she couldn't miss. That was when he noticed Kisame's face contort itself into a maddening grin, and then he knew something was terribly wrong.

"Hehehe..thought you had me, didn't ya?" He brought his sword around in a spinning arc to strike at Kurenai whom had been creeping up from behind him.

Shocked by his escape from her genjutsu, she was unable to react in time.

Asuma cursed his luck and made to leap at the swordsmen, but he knew he would be too late.

"I don't think so!"

Naruto appeared in front of Kurenai, his chakra blades at his sides. With all of his strength, he crashed the blades into Kisame's attack, the force behind it made him slide on the dirt. His speed had paid off though, and the attack missed its desired target and left the missing-nin vulnerable.

"Asuma, now!" Kisame growled at the boy but turned his head to see what the other jounin was doing.

He had ditched his blades and was now going through hand signs in a very fast pace. Kurenai and Naruto leaped away as Asuma cupped his hands around his mouth and released a concentrated shot of dust and wind. The blast enveloped the Akatsuki member, but they weren't done.

In midair, Naruto flipped around and began going through hand signs of his own. Building up heat in his stomach, Naruto released a gust of flame from his mouth and ignited Asuma's attack into something even more devastating than before.

An explosion covered the battlefield as the two attacks combined, and then an eerie quiet. Naruto and Kurenai landed and retreated back to where Asuma was, waiting for the outcome. To them it looked like the attack had been enough to take him down, but they had been mistaken about that before.

They saw Gai fly back to where they were, sweat dripping down his brow. It seemed the fight between him and Itachi had been ended prematurely. Itachi must have sensed what had happened to Kisame and decided it was time to end things.

"Gai, what happened?" Asuma asked his fellow jounin, but he just shook his head.

"One second we were in the thick of it, the next he was gone. Must be checking on Kisame."

Kurenai reached into her thigh pouch and readied a kunai with an explosive tag.

"We can't let them rest, we should keep up the attack."

Gai's hand held her back, though she sent him a glare.

"Our orders were to save Sasuke and gauge the enemy's ability. In our current state, the best we can settle for is a stalemate, so let's not do anything hasty."

They were surprised Gai was thinking with a level head, generally he would be pretty gung-ho about the situation. Maybe the experience he had with Kakashi gave him pause when fighting Akatsuki.

_'If she could get taken down, maybe he doesn't want to see us all out of commission.'_

"Ha.."

The smoke cleared to reveal a hunched over Kisame; blood was pouring out of a dozen open wounds and bits of flesh were scattered all around. The akatsuki robe was ripped to shreds on his upper body, the threads hanging loosely over his shoulder. He was hurt to the point he had to use his sword as a support to stand on. The frightening thing was that his wounds were slowly regenerating.

Naruto saw the blade reacting in an odd way to the healing process—it began to shrink. What could that mean?

"Kisame, we are retreating." Itachi said from the swordsman's side in a no nonsense tone.

"Yeah..figured as much." The bigger man replied, a bit disappointed.

Naruto gritted his teeth, letting them go after the crimes they committed seemed wrong. Where had all of his strength gone to see the task through to the end? Something about Gai's commanding tone, combined with the shape their squad and Sasuke were in made him stand down though.

The enemy shinobi were allowed to disappear without any retribution.

Gai turned back to pick up Sasuke while the other three breathed a sigh of relief. It was a tense standoff that really offered no true winner by the end of it. That inevitably led them to question their own abilities and whether they stood a chance against the organization in the future.

"We should head back and get Sasuke to the medical team. Looks like he needs it." The boy was unconscious, no doubt from the pain.

Though it wasn't what he had in mind when he left the hospital, Naruto had been able to keep Sasuke safe. He had to wonder if that was really Itachi's goal, to kill his younger brother. Or was there something more to it that he wasn't seeing?

In the end, what mattered was that the mission was a success. At least he would have something good to tell Kakashi when she woke up.

_Let it be soon..._

000

_A couple of weeks later.._

_Konohagakure_

_Hospital_

000

In a single room on the third floor, a shinobi was dutifully watching over his mentor. The staff there had gotten used to his presence, finding it odd when he wasn't nearby. His dedication was admirable if nothing else.

Naruto found himself with a lot of free time since the fight against Akatsuki. It seemed the council didn't want to send him out of the village for some strange reason. Since Gai's team was unable to ascertain the exact objective of Itachi and Kisame, they couldn't risk sending Naruto out on his own.

For now, he was on standby. That left him with very few things to do, so he often found himself with Kakashi in the hospital. There wasn't much he could do for her though since he really didn't understand what the exact cause was to her coma, nor was he trained in medical ninjutsu of any kind. All he could do was sit or stand, waiting for her to awaken from what seemed like the dead.

The doctor recommended he try talking to her. It could help wake her up if she heard a friendly voice, he said. Somehow, Naruto wasn't very convinced. That said, he really didn't like the idea of just standing around, doing nothing.

So, Naruto would talk. He told Kakashi about the mission to rescue Sasuke, he told her about how Arata and Sakura were doing in their training, and when he couldn't think of anything related to work, he would tell her what he had for lunch that day. Occasionally, he would try and sneak in a plea for her to wake up, but he soon realized that it was only making him feel worse about her condition, so he quickly stopped.

The village that day reflected any other normal day in Konoha. He had no way to know who or what was about to come through the door.

When the door did slam open, he heard the click clack of heels and figured one of the doctors had arrived to check on Kakashi. He paid it no mind, the sounds of the hospital had become the normality since Kakashi's check-in there. When the clicking stopped halfway inside, he knew something was off.

Naruto was leaning against the wall which meant the door was only in his peripheral vision. He knew someone was standing there, he just didn't know who.

"Who is this?" A feminine voice asked.

He hadn't heard that voice before, and he had come to recognize the doctors that cared for Kakashi. Naruto looked over at the door and saw a blonde woman with pigtails, no older than Kakashi herself.

Another woman around the same age stood by her side, black hair cropped short. In her arms, she held a pig that wore a small robe and had a beaded necklace around its body.

_'Who are these people?'_

On the alert, Naruto got up from his lax stance and faced the new arrivals with a careful eye. There was no telling if Akatsuki, or any other organization that knew about the sharingan user's abilities, would be willing to risk a kidnapping or assassination. After their infiltration of the village, anything was possible.

Tsunade noticed the young man's legs spread a bit, his knees bent; he was tensed and ready to pounce, his training taught him well. Only an experienced shinobi like herself could see through his routine, and she had to assume he was there to watch over the patient in some regard.

That said, she had no time to entertain his fantasies; there was a woman in need of her medical abilities and she would not waste any time.

"Erm..let me see.." Shizune thumbed through the papers the council had given them on the active shinobi roster, but she didn't seem to recognize him.

"It doesn't matter." The blonde woman cut her off, hand on her hip. "You, boy...what are you doing here? I was told this room had only one patient."

Naruto wasn't sure he liked her attitude, but he had a sense that she knew a lot more than she let on. If she really was here on business to help Kakashi, it wouldn't do for him to make the situation more complicated.

He decided to answer truthfully, what could it hurt?

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Kakashi Hatake, the occupant of the room, is my.." Naruto searched for the right word. ", mentor I guess. I've been watching over her since she was checked in here."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow; if the reports they gave her were accurate, Kakashi had been in the hospital for a considerable amount of time. It took dedication, even for a student, to stick around for that long. Her respect for the boy went up a bit, especially after she recognized his name.

_'So this is the boy Jiraiya was talking about..the jinchuuriki, son of the Yondaime. Hero of Konoha after the battle against Suna and Oto.'_ He didn't look like much, but then again, neither did Jiraiya.

The sage turned out as a somewhat passable shinobi, who was to say Naruto couldn't do the same?

Tsunade shook her head clear, she had bigger things to handle.

Naruto eyed her as she approached the bed with his teacher. One wrong move and she could easily kill Kakashi, and it made him uneasy. He didn't even know who she was.

Shizune saw the way Naruto eyed the next Hokage and it bothered her. Didn't he know who they were? It was almost insulting to think a shinobi might distrust someone of the caliber of Tsunade with their lives.

The sannin recognized the look and found herself biting back a smile. She had to admit, he was protective over this woman for what it was worth.

"Don't worry kid, I'm here to help believe it or not." Tsunade said with a bit of amusement, but she turned serious as she did a quick analysis of Kakashi's condition.

"Sorry.." Naruto realized he had been too obvious. He didn't mean to be so suspicious, but it had served him well in the past. "I just don't want to see Kakashi get hurt again."

"Well, that might be unavoidable." Naruto's eyebrows went up, but she quickly extrapolated. "As a shinobi, you are going to be put into this kind of situation a lot. I suppose you weren't there when she got hurt like this?"

She recognized a heaviness to him, a burden of guilt. The boy was sluggish, tired; staying in the hospital was starting to affect his health. Guilt or regret could easily explain why he had been so adamant in sticking around.

Naruto looked at the ground, unable to answer. Maybe it was stupid to dwell on something he had no way of preventing, but it still bothered him. It wasn't just Kakashi's condition that bothered him about it though, it was his weakness in comparison to the enemy shinobi.

Through his training with Asuma and Team 7, he thought he had progressed to a point that not many others could have in such a short time. Maybe that was true, but it still didn't prepare him to fight against someone like Orochimaru or Itachi. It was going to take a lot more if he wanted to protect the village from those kinds of threats, and he wasn't sure if he could do it.

"Naruto-kun.." Shizune woke him from his stupor, calling him by his first name.

He shook his head clear of silly thoughts. Getting depressed wasn't going to help anyone.

"Yeah, I wasn't able to fight with her. When I fought against the guys who did it to her, I realized just how strong they were in comparison to me. I went out for revenge and almost got killed."

Tsunade's gaze hardened when she heard his motivation, revenge. It was something that would lead to nothing but misery.

"Don't be naïve." She said with a harsh tone, surprising the others. "Revenge has gotten a lot of people killed and rarely does it ever end well. You are better of burying it and moving on."

Naruto crossed his arms in an act of defiance, but dropped them a moment later. She was right, after all.

"Yeah.."

Things were silent for a while as Tsunade continued to touch and prod Kakashi's body on occasion with her hands. After she had gotten a grasp on what was ailing her, she began to go through a set of well practiced hand signs. Her hands began to glow a sage green, the color associated with medical ninjutsu, before she placed one over the jounin's forehead.

Naruto waited with bated breath; he had seen different doctors attempt the same thing every week he had been there, but to no avail. What would make her technique any different? Somehow, the new arrival's natural ability and commanding aura gave Naruto a sense of hope he had not felt in quite some time.

Shizune couldn't help but smile as she saw relief flood over Naruto as Kakashi began to stir. It was as if all that weight on his shoulders finally could leave him.

"Ah...my head." Kakashi grumbled, an unsteady hand drifted toward her scalp before it was slapped away by Tsunade; the treatment had not been completed and she did not want the woman to interfere.

"Hold still, there is still some healing left to do." Tsunade's voice offered no room for argument, and the jounin reluctantly laid back down.

"Kakashi-sensei.." Naruto couldn't hold himself back as he made a step toward the bed.

"Naruto? Is that..you?" Her voice cracked, her mouth was surely dry from inactivity.

"It's..it's good to have you back.." He stumbled out.

"Hm.." Her eyes were still closed, though her strength seemed to be slowly returning. "How long have I been out?"

"A couple of weeks.."

That seemed to bother her greatly as her eyebrows furrowed. Surely her thoughts were racing to try and account for what she had missed, what had happened after she was knocked unconscious.

"And Akatsuki...are they?" She left the question open on the off chance Naruto didn't know what she was talking about, but she had a hunch he did.

"Gone." Naruto said, his jaw clenched. "But Sasuke was wounded when he went after one of them. We were able to get to him in time though, and Akatsuki was forced to retreat."

The news of Sasuke getting involved did not sit well with Kakashi. She opened her right eye, quickly closing it again with the light in the room being too much to handle.

Shizune quickly switched off the ceiling lights and closed the curtains to better help her adjust. It was timed just as Tsunade relinquished her hold of Kakashi, though she remained close to the bed.

"Sasuke's injured?" Kakashi asked Naruto, turning her head toward him.

He looked normal enough, but he also seemed to be exhausted. What had he been doing since she had been knocked unconscious?

"Yes." Tsunade answered instead, making her turn around. "After I was done with you, I was going to go check on him next."

"I see.."

True to herself, Kakashi remained calm in the presence of a stranger; even after being given the troubling news, she didn't break her facade.

"You should remain in your bed for now. There is still the small bit of you being in bed for so long, your body is weak. Stay overnight and you can leave in the morning." Tsunade explained with a professional tone, she seemed quite accustomed to dealing with the patient.

"Of course, Tsunade-sama."

_'Tsunade..where have I heard that name before.'_ Naruto wracked his brain for the source as the blonde woman and her assistant began to walk out.

In the doorway though, she turned around and addressed Naruto.

"You, Naruto." She said, finally addressing him by name. "You aren't allowed to leave either until you get some rest. Staying here for those two weeks did a number on your health too."

With that, the 'doctor' left to move onto the young Uchiha.

Naruto's head snapped up when he finally recognized the name; Hiruzen talked about Tsunade when he mentioned Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Together they formed the three legendary ninja, made famous during the Second Shinobi war.

Apparently her medical expertise was well renowned throughout the world. For her to be in Konoha must have been significant.

"You were here for two weeks? Doing what?" Kakashi's voice sent a warm flush to his face, there was no easy way to get out of that.

Unfortunately for him, his silence made his mentor come to her own conclusions. Her eye widened when she realized he had been there watching over her. Was it really that concerning?

"Naruto.." Concern laced her voice as she watched him approach.

"Sorry, Kakashi, but I couldn't just leave you alone." He sat down in the chair by Kakashi's side.

That fatigue Tsunade had mentioned was starting to catch up with him. He found it difficult to keep his eyes open and he struggled to stay awake. Surely his teacher had questions and it was his duty to answer them.

Kakashi seemed as if she was going to say something, her mask shifting where her lips were. Just as quickly, her body seemed to relax and Naruto thought for sure she was smiling.

"Well, I suppose I should be flattered for your concern." He looked at her, incredulously.

Was she really going to let it go, just like that?

"Thank you, Naruto. Sorry I made you worry."

Her eye closed in what he had recognized as the face she used to reassure those she knew; that smile, even when hidden beneath the dark cloth, was enough to make him smile too.

"I'm just glad you're awake again. I was starting to think..well." He shrugged, better he didn't finish that sentence.

She nodded, being out for a few days was already enough to worry most. Two weeks, even she couldn't wrap her head around that.

"Maybe it's better you don't think, Naruto. You heard what Tsunade said, let's just get some rest."

He nodded in agreement to her suggestion. If he could just close his eyes for a while, he would feel better.

The jounin leaned back into her pillow and tried to settle in. She had no intentions of going to sleep, as she was already well caught up in that regard, but it might make her blonde compatriot feel more comfortable going to sleep if she was going to as well.

With a bit of hesitation, Naruto folded his arms on the side of her bed as a pillow and laid his head down. The drastic shift from falling asleep haphazardly in the chair or against the wall made sleep come easy for him. Within just a few minutes, Naruto had fallen asleep.

Kakashi recognized that he had fallen asleep when his breathing leveled out, his muscles finally relaxed. Offering her bed was the least she could do for her student after he stayed by her side that entire time.

Unable to help herself, she carefully ran her hand through his golden locks. They were so soft, and she always found it interesting how his hair managed to stick up like that without any help. He must have inherited it from his father as her sensei had a similar look in his youth.

Though there were plenty of things she needed to think about, worry about, even obsess over, laying there with Naruto gave her an odd sense of calm. She hadn't been lying when she said she was flattered; for someone she hadn't known terribly long to be that dedicated to seeing to her health..it was humbling.

Even though he could not hear it, she felt the need to say it again.

"Thank you, Naruto."

_For being the first person to care._

000

_Some time later.._

_Konohagakure_

000

Naruto and Kakashi walked through the large gate that constituted as the entrance to the village. They had just returned from an important scouting mission in Taki. Reports were finding a larger amount of spies on the border, and they were being found deeper and deeper in the Land of Fire.

Considering their experience and how comfortable they were working with each other, Tsunade assigned them together. In the meantime, Team 7 kept on doing its own missions that didn't require Kakashi's leadership; most were simple chores, but on occasion they would leave the village.

The last they heard, Arata and Sasuke both were in the hospital recovering from another mission. Apparently, the enemy was a bit too much for them to handle alone so they had to work together to fight them. The two had a strained relationship, though they still respected each other. Hopefully, nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Glad to be back." Naruto said with a smile as they walked the streets.

Kakashi nodded, tilting her head toward the sky. It was nice to get out of the village after she had to stay in the hospital for so long.

"Kakashi-sensei, after we report to Tsunade, why don't we grab lunch and take some to the rest of the team?" It would be no surprise to find Sakura in the hospital, doting on Sasuke.

That meant they could reunite the team for a nice lunch. It was something they hadn't had the opportunity to do in a long time.

The jounin smiled.

"That sounds like a good idea, Naruto."

They remained in comfortable silence until they finally arrived at the Hokage's tower. It was a short walk up the stairs before they entered to find Tsunade, as usual, swamped with paperwork. Shizune wasn't feeling merciful as she plopped another stack down in front of the older woman's face, much to her chagrin.

"Dammit Shizune, I said bring it when I was ready! Does this look ready to you?" She grabbed a bunch of the documents and waved them around to make her point.

"If I waited for you to be 'ready', these papers would never be signed. Please continue, _Hokage_." Her apprentice said with a teasing tone, emphasizing her master's new rank.

It was definitely a shock to Naruto when he realized the woman he had been suspicious of was to become the next Hokage. After they got formally acquainted, a little before her inauguration, they got to know each other a little better. As it turned out, Tsunade had been brought back to the village by Jiraiya after he helped her defeat Orochimaru. Though she was not interested in becoming Hokage, she wanted to do something for the Sandaime , and she knew the best thing she could do was look after the village until a replacement came along.

If nothing else, he respected her for her honesty and the loyalty she had to still go through with accepting the job. It wasn't his place to say, but he got the feeling she had taken a liking to him. It was probably nothing, but that glint in her eye every time he walked in to the Hokage's office was off-putting.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi announced their presence as the woman struggled to see past all the paperwork.

"Kakashi, Naruto? That you?" In an unceremonious fashion, the Hokage pushed a heap of the paperwork onto the floor to better see them.

Shizune let out a shriek and began to organize them again, but it had bought Tsunade some time. She seemed quite grateful for their arrival.

"How did the mission go? Any trouble?" Tsunade asked, lacing her hands together.

"No ma'am, it was actually very quiet. We saw no evidence of Taki's movements into our country, but we were able to coordinate with the border guards. Together, we determined their most likely areas of infiltration and possible countermeasures for them to take in the future." Kakashi explained.

Naruto remained quiet during the debriefing as he had already deferred his knowledge to Kakashi.

Too bad for him, Tsunade was interested in his opinion as well. Regardless of his age, the boy had a good intuition.

"Naruto, what did you think of the border? Anything off?" When he heard his name called, Naruto jumped a little.

He recovered quickly though and expressed his concerns.

"While we were there, I found that many rivers were shared around the border. Some even flowed from Waterfall country to Fire. That got me thinking that, considering the fact that Taki is well known for its Suiton, their spies could be using the rivers to infiltrate the country." Tsunade raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

That meant he should continue.

"After determining the supposed location of the hidden village within the country and comparing it to nearby rivers, I found at least three that could offer an easy route to infiltrating Fire. I brought it up with the gate guards and recommended they construct dams using doton techniques in specific areas along the route to ensure the spies could no longer easily swim past."

"Hm. Good work. That was something no one had caught before, so let's see if it improves the situation any. You two are dismissed." They bowed and prepared to leave, but the door slammed open before they could even turn around.

"Tsunade-sama! There's a-" A nurse from the hospital stood there, out of breath.

After seeing Kakashi, she seemed to calm down a bit.

Not one to enjoy long pauses, Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"Well, out with it. What's going on?" Recoiling from her angered tone, Kaori collected herself.

"There is a fight breaking out between two of our patients. Considering who they are, the doctors asked that I get your help right away."

"Who is it?" Naruto asked, curious.

She frowned. "Arata Sato and Sasuke Uchiha. They were headed the roof the last thing we heard."

Naruto and Kakashi's eyes widened and they looked at one another in concern. A fight between their students? Where had something like that come from?

"Kakashi, Naruto." Tsunade called to them after a short pause. "Handle this, and make sure it doesn't happen again. Your team is good, but if there are disagreements then its time to take care of them."

"I'm afraid it could be much more than a disagreement, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said with a certain ominous tone.

She moved over to the window and opened it. With a tilt of her head she gave Naruto the silent order to follow before disappearing into the village. Her subordinate was close behind, a similar look of concern etched on his features.

Tsunade sighed, just when things were starting to look up...

"Here you are, Tsunade-sama." A voice rang out in a nice tone, too nice.

A stack of papers were laid onto her desk, courtesy of Shizune. It seemed whatever the crisis was, she would never be able to escape from paperwork.

"Damn.." She readied her stamping hand, clutching the small tool like a weapon.

_'Hurry up and mature, the both of you. At least one of you can take this job off my hands, right?'_

000

"Arata, Sasuke. Stop it!"

No matter how hard she tried, Sakura always felt weak. Her team-mates were always out of her reach, even after she tried so hard to be their equal. Was this all she could do, cry until she got her way?

Not even that would work, not this time.

Sasuke back flipped until he hit the chain link fence. He hopped up and used it as a spring to launch himself high into the air, in the meantime gathering chakra in his hand. It was time to prove once and for all who was the strongest of their team. Arata never backed down whenever they got into fights, and that was something Sasuke could no longer abide by. After losing to his brother, he needed validation that his strength was still there.

Arata grabbed a few kunai and began to levitate them with his powers. If Sasuke wanted to beat him, he was going to have to work for it. He didn't ask to become a shinobi, but if they said he was cut out to be one, who was Sasuke to tell him otherwise? If he had to prove that with a bit of violence, so be it.

"Arata!" Sasuke growled, chidori flaring as he sailed through the air.

"Sasuke." His team-mate responded in a quiet, angry tone.

He sent his kunai forward, straight for Sasuke. If he didn't move out of the way, he would be impaled. With all of that adrenaline rushing through his body, there was a chance he might be very willing to take that hit if it meant reaching Arata.

Luckily, it never came to that.

In what seemed like an instant, Sasuke's wrist that wielded the mighty chidori was grappled by Kakashi. With little ceremony, she twisted her body to gain momentum and threw the boy toward the roof's water tower.

_'Kakashi?!'_ Arata was taken by surprise, and the kunai were too close to stop from hitting her!

Just as suddenly as when Sasuke was taken care of, the kunai changed course and plunged to the ground, harmlessly. Sakura and Arata looked around to find Naruto standing on the chain link fence, his hands in the snake hand sign.

"That's enough." He said, his eyes brokered no room for argument.

Sakura had been running to try and stop the fight, but now she wasn't sure what to do. So she stood there and let out her feelings, sobbing. Why couldn't they all get along?

Kakashi frowned and walked over to the girl. She wasn't satisfied with the way she had handled her team's training as a whole, and that made the fight her responsibility. It also meant those tears were because of Kakashi's weakness, and that meant she had to fix them. It was her first team and she was determined not to lose them.

Naruto leaped off the fence and approached Arata. He was not as sympathetic as Kakashi. As far as he was concerned, those two had to own up to their mistakes.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms.

Arata looked down to avoid his gaze. He hated it when adults looked down on him, something he got a lot when he lived on the streets as an urchin.

"None of your damn busi-" Before he could even finish the retort, He was slammed against the fence by Naruto.

"That isn't good enough, Arata. I asked you what the _hell_ did you think you were doing?"

Kakashi and Sakura turned their heads to see Naruto scold him. It was harsh, but Arata was thickheaded. If they were going to get through to him, he needed to be reminded of the position he was in.

Naruto pointed toward Sasuke, whom had finally recovered and pulled himself free of the water tower.

"That's your team-mate right there, and no matter how you feel about him, you don't use a technique like that against them." Arata bit his lip, trying to resist from crying. "I bet I know what happened: he goaded you into a fight, and you took him up on that to wipe the smirk from his face, right?"

No answer, so he pushed him into the fence again. "Right?"

"Y-yeah..but he-"

"What both of you did was wrong! Both of you have to own up to it. We trained you to work together, not go for each others throat when you get angry." Naruto was so disappointed, he let his emotions get the better of him.

"He's right, Arata. Both you and Sasuke were out of line when you chose to fight one another with techniques aimed to kill, not wound." Kakashi said, before looking down in regret. "But as your team leader, this was my responsibility. It's my fault it has gotten this bad, so I'm sorry."

Arata couldn't believe he was hearing his sensei say things like that. Was she being serious? It was their fault that they fought each other, not hers.

"But Kakashi-sensei-" She disappeared in a cloud of smoke, cutting off his protest.

He saw her reappear next to Sasuke, probably to give him a similar lecture. The hand that had been painfully grasping his shoulder was withdrawn, and Naruto backed away from him.

"Comrades don't fight dirty Arata, remember that. You don't have to like Sasuke, hell that rivalry might even make you want to train harder, but don't let it be your sole focus. Remember what's really important, and you won't fall to the same trap as Sasuke." Naruto said in a somber, almost regretful tone.

After seeing how that revenge had consumed Sasuke, he had to admit that things did not look good for the Uchiha. He would have to rely on Kakashi to handle him, because if his angry display was anything to go by, he still had a ways to go before he could be a proper sensei to anyone. That didn't mean he was any less concerned for Sasuke, but helping him sort out his problems was something that Naruto was not equipped to handle.

The least he could do was try and prevent something like what happened today from happening again.

Unable to respond, Arata just nodded. It wasn't like he enjoyed fighting with Sasuke, he didn't live for combat. He'd much rather sit around and do nothing than be a shinobi. Too much thinking, too many rules. But, that was what he was now, and if it meant his sensei could rest easy, he would try harder.

"Come on." Naruto looped an arm around his shoulder before ushering him toward the door.

He motioned for Sakura to follow as they walked past. Both genin were confused, but did as they were told.

"Where are we going?" The girl asked, confused.

"Before this mess happened, Kakashi and I were going to go and get you guys lunch. Now that you have so rightfully displayed you can walk.." He painfully rubbed Arata's head to make his point, much to the boy's ire. "We can go out for lunch. My treat."

Despite the situation, the younger shinobi couldn't help but smile. Even after such a tense standoff, Naruto was still trying to make them feel better. Though they wouldn't admit to it, they had come to see him as another sensei. He was around as much as Kakashi was when it came to training, and he checked in on them even when Kakashi was out of action.

To see him concerned about them validated their belief that he was in fact a teacher to them.

"Don't worry, Kakashi will convince Sasuke to come along." Naruto said with a smile, mostly directing it to Sakura. "Knowing him, it might take an extra bruise or two."

After only five minutes of walking, the team was back to all smiles, and Naruto only hoped he could make it last. They deserved better, and he hoped they could find a way to get along again. What they had all been through together should have been enough to validate they were just as good of friends as they were team-mates.

"_**Boy..we need to talk.."**_ A deep voice rang out in Naruto's head, making him stop in his tracks.

It was something he had thought would never happen, considering how quiet the beast within had been. What made him want to talk now, of all times?

"Naruto-san?" Sakura called out in concern; the blonde had just frozen up in the middle of the road.

He pushed the thought from his mind and smiled. "It's nothing, just remembered something I need to do after we eat. Come on."

Naruto ushered them along, though they did sneak a few worried glances after that.

_'We will, Kyuubi. It's about time you and I get properly acquainted.'_

000

I was really hoping to finish the chapter, but after writing the same thing so recently in _Blonde Uchiha_ I struggled a bit. Glad I could finish this for the end of spring break though and I hope you enjoy it.

Some concerns are brought up about Naruto's power or just general uniqueness. He will come more into his role as our heroic protagonist in Part II after he does his training bit, but right now he is considered a model Konoha shinobi. This story I would really like to focus on him being well rounded and not known for one or two techniques and that is it, or having some crazy bloodline.

It gives Naruto a new perspective, adding to his different age and upbringing.

See you next time with _Namikaze Assassin _where we will finally see the end of Part I!


End file.
